Red, or Black?
by SaltyJak
Summary: Timmy has been hiding a secret crush for a couple of years now, and he has decided to act on his feelings, but new feelings blossom in him for someone else as well. Why does love have to be so difficult?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So here we are again, rather than finish a story, my muse has dropped an idea into my head for a new one instead, so to those who hoped I would actually finish a story... sorry. For those who wanted to read a new story, well here it is, believe it or not, The Price You Pay was originally going to be a one shot, but... yeah. Hopefully I can complete it by the end of the week, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

* * *

Timmy sat with his friends in the food court of the Dimmsdale mall, absently eating the fries he got with his burger, his mind was not on his food, or his friends, or even remotely nearby. His mind was contemplating a certain girl in his life, one who he knew since he was young, one he was sure he was in love with.

"Dude? Hey man, what's up?"

He was snapped out of his reverie by AJ. "Huh? What? Sorry I was... somewhere else..."

"Yeah obviously. Whatcha thinking about?"

"Er... nothing."

"So something then." Chester spoke up next.

"Someone more like, Trixie I bet."

"What! No... You're definitely wrong about that..." he knew how to lie, to anyone else, this seemed to be an anime style denial-confession, where someone denied their love of someone so strongly that everyone immediately knew that the person denying the accusation must, in fact, be in love. It was working, thankfully.

"Pfft, why do you even try Timmy? When you deny that strongly, you make it way too obvious."

"No way! You guys are imagining it! I don't have a crush on anyone, especially not someone as beautiful and gorgeous as Trixie Tang..." Oh yeah, he was getting real good at this.

"Dude come on! You're laughably obvious..."

"I have to agree with AJ, you obviously like Trixie."

"If I tell you, will you drop the issue?"

"Not likely."

"Fine, I like Trixie, but I don't have a chance with someone like her, she's so popular and I'm..."

"A loser?"

"Poor?"

"Cute?"

"Yeah all those- Wait what?!"

Tootie had appeared at their table and had her arm around Timmy's waist.

"Tootie, I don't know how you do that but stop." he pushed her away from him.

He was beginning to wonder if he had brain damage for a while when he told her to come hang out with him, Chester, and AJ. She looked so sad when he saw her sitting alone at lunch, and in several group activities in classes, that he couldn't help but go over and ask her if she wanted to come sit with them at lunch, on the condition that she calm down a little and stop trying to molest him. She begrudgingly agreed and that was that, she had become a part of their little group, she could now count on their help if she ever needed it. Timmy was surprised that she held up her end of the bargain, at least to the best of her abilities.

"Doesn't it bother you Tootie, that he is crushing on another girl, literally right in front of you?"

"Well yeah, but... I can't force him to like me, he needs to make the choice for himself."

"_Looks like she really is trying at least."_

"Guys, just drop it, I'm out of her league..."

"Wouldn't hurt to try..."

They weren't going to drop this, and it would help divert attention from his actual feelings.

"Fine. You just watch, I'll go over there, and get shot down like every other boy in school, then come back here and you can all laugh at me." Timmy stood up and walked over to the popular kids' table, noticing that a blonde girl at the table was staring dreamy eyed at him. _"Veronica..."_ "Hey Trixie, hey Veronica." He hoped knowing Trixie's and her friend's names would give him a leg up in the conversation.

Trixie responded as he expected. "Who are you? And why are you talking to me?"

Veronica reacted slightly differently, to say the least. "Eep!" she then quickly turned away so he couldn't see her face.

"_That was... weird..."_ "Uh... I'm Timmy Turner, we're in the same classes together, I was just wondering if-"

"Security!" a large hulking individual walked over and picked him up in a hand the size of a small recliner chair, then threw him through the air so he landed perfectly back in his seat at his own lunch table. He was surprised that he landed unharmed.

"Timmy! Are you okay?!" Tootie launched herself at him and began checking him for wounds.

"Tootie."

"Just wait! I'll get her for this!"

"Tootie."

"That bodyguard of hers too!"

"Tootie!"

"What?"

Her arms stopped, wrapped around him. "I'm fine, you can let go of me... Thanks though."

"Oh... sorry." Tootie returned to her position next to him, though she maintained a respectable distance.

There was silence at the table for several seconds, then Chester and AJ burst out laughing, then collapsed to the floor and rolled around, still laughing their asses off.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up, I'm really frickin' funny..."

"Sorry dude, that was just... too much!" AJ then fell into another fit of laughter.

"Timmy, don't let it bother you, these two may say she's out of your league, but _I_ say _you're_ out of her league."

"Thanks Tootie." he felt bad for Tootie, she seemed to genuinely care for him, albeit in a strange way. He wished she didn't though, if she didn't like him, it wouldn't be so hard to be around her, to constantly rebuff her feelings. He knew it was selfish, in a way, but he didn't want to deal with the guilt he felt from denying Tootie.

Timmy received a text message from his mother then.

_Timmy, head home now. We need to talk to you._

He didn't know why his parents sent him texts that made them sound so angry at him, they rarely cared enough to be angry at him, even when Vicky broke things in the house and she blamed him for it, they didn't seem to care. It was good for him, he didn't have to worry about ever being in trouble with his parents, and the lack of attention and affection they showed him was a small price to pay, at least that's what he told himself. Deep down their lack of attention towards him was slowly crushing him, but he kept those feelings in the dark, away from the prying eyes of everyone he knew.

"Well guys, I should head out, my parents want to talk to me about something."

"Okay dude, we'll talk to... you... later... Pahaha!"

AJ and Chester once more fell into fits of laughter.

"Bye Timmy, see you in school."

"Bye Tootie, bye-"

"Pahaha!"

"Yeah."

He started off toward the exit of the mall when he heard footsteps behind him.

"Timmy wait!" it was Tootie.

Timmy instinctively reached for the restraining order in his pocket, then pulled his hand from his pocket and waved towards Tootie, against his better judgment.

"Hey Tootie, everything alright?"

"Is it okay if I um... walk home with you... maybe?"

A voice in his head screamed at him to say no, and with some struggling, he ignored it.

"Uh... sure, I guess..."

She squealed in delight and launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around him.

"You really need to learn some self control..."

"Oh! Sorry!" she detached herself from Timmy and blushed slightly.

"Shall we head out?"

"Um... Yeah."

They boarded the bus and Tootie opted to sit next to Timmy, a bit closer than he would've liked. He decided against telling her to move over a bit, he was beginning to think he was too nice for his own good, and one day it would come to bite him in the ass.

They left the bus and began walking towards his house when Tootie spoke up again.

"Do you mind... walking me to my house?"

"Where Vicky lives? Do you think I have a deathwish? Besides, my parents really wanted me to get home quickly..."

Tootie stared at him with a pathetic expression on her face.

"_Why are women so good at swaying my actions?"_

"Fine, let's go."

"Yay!" Tootie almost launched herself again, then stopped herself at the last second.

Timmy braced himself, then relaxed when there was no impact.

Tootie instead grabbed his hand and linked her fingers with his. Timmy looked down at his hand and sighed.

"_She really isn't going to make this easy..."_

"Tootie, you can't just... Ugh... nevermind, just lead the way..."

They walked in surprisingly companionable silence for several minutes before arriving at Tootie's house, sidelong glances at Tootie revealed she was apparently on cloud nine the entire time, she stared straight ahead but had a dreamy expression on her face and was not really looking at anything.

When they made it to her house, they stood on her front porch for several uncomfortable seconds when the front door suddenly opened, revealing Vicky standing in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest.

"So, you two Twerps going steady, or did you just spill glue on your hands?"

"Vicky, you don't have to be so mean all the time..."

"I'm pretty sure I do."

"Well I know you aren't mean all the time, I live with you, remember?" there was a grin on Tootie's face now.

"Yeah, whatever. Move aside, I have to head out, got work to do."

Timmy and Tootie let Vicky go past them, she got into her car, backed it out of the driveway, and sped off down the road. He watched her leave then looked at his hand, still held in Tootie's.

"You can let go of my hand now..."

"Hm? Oh. Right." she released his hand and Timmy absently realized he missed the heat her hand brought.

"Well bye Tootie, I'll see you at school."

"Bye Timmy! Thanks for walking me home!" she quickly scurried inside.

Timmy sighed loudly as he turned to walk toward his house, all the work he had put into getting Tootie to calm down and stop being so obsessive towards him had probably just gone down the drain...

"The price I pay for being too nice..." he always had a hard time bringing himself to be mean, his conscience usually got in the way.

Upon returning to his house, he was met with his parents running back and forth around the house, gathering up clothing for... something.

"Mom?"

"Oh! Timmy you're home! Your dad and I are going out for the weekend. The Dinkleburgs are planning an adults only party and well, you know how your father is when it comes to the Dinkleburgs and anything mildly competitive..."

"Yeah, I know..."

"Oh, don't worry honey, we'll be back in a few days... probably."

That's how it usually was when it came to Timmy's parents, leaving him alone with Vicky and saying they'd be back in a few days, or eventually, or probably.

"So I assume Vicky will be over shortly...?"

"Oh! Thanks for reminding me! I need to call her and ask her to babysit!" his mother then ran off to find her phone, Timmy merely facepalmed.

"They almost left without there being someone here to take care of me?"

_In the other room..._

Timmy's mother dialed Vicky's number. Vicky was in the middle of shopping at the Dimmsdale mall when her phone rang.

"Grr... always when I'm busy..." she cleared the anger from her voice and answered the phone in her Diabetes inducing voice. "Hello?"

"Vicky, we need you to watch Timmy for the weekend, the Dinkleburgs are throwing a party and my husband and I can't miss it!"

"Doesn't your husband hate the Dinkleburgs?"

"Yes."

"Then why are you-"

"Too many questions! Can you do it?"

"I'm kind of in the middle of something..."

"Oh please Vicky, we really need your help, and surely whatever you're doing isn't that important..."

"_Yes. Surely I couldn't possibly be doing anything important, I live to babysit your Twerp!" _her own mind was shouting sarcastically.

"I don't know, this is kind of short notice..."

"Vicky-"

"And I normally charge extra for such short notice appointments..."

"Money is no object."

"I'll be right over." at least they were smart enough to use money to attract her over. They still weren't very smart though, they never attempted to haggle or work out a deal, they were all too happy to give her whatever she asked.

Vicky walked her shopping cart out to the parking lot and to her car, she didn't get to finish shopping, so she wasn't going to pay for what she did get.

_Back at the Turner house..._

"Alright Timmy, I called Vicky, she should be here pretty soon."

"Can't you guys ever trust me to be alone?"

"No, we can't!" his mother said that much too whimsically.

"Ugh... fine. I'd bring up the whole 'evil babysitter' thing, but I don't think it works anyway..."

"Hm? What was that? I was daydreaming about what a great and not evil babysitter Vicky is!"

"I rest my case..." it was fine though, he had a plan for dealing with Vicky, one that was sure to work.

There was a knock at the front door. "Oh! That must be Vicky! She's so fast and punctual! You really are lucky to have her as a babysitter!"

"Yeah, I _sure_ am..."

Mrs. Turner opened the front door and greeted Vicky.

"Vicky, thank you so much for coming out on such short notice. I really hope you weren't busy..."

"Well I was in the middle of-"

"Oh, who am I kidding? You likely didn't have anything important to do anyway!"

"Grr..." Vicky could feel her facade breaking.

"Well, we really should be going, bye Timmy, bye Vicky! We'll see you two in a few days!"

Vicky and Timmy stood in the doorway, waving bye to Timmy's parents, before Vicky closed the door and looked over at Timmy with a predatory smile, her head swimming with thoughts of how she could torture him in retribution for his parents not caring that she had a life. He stared at her with a smile of his own, a dreamy expression on his face.

"T-twerp?" her voice betrayed her, she practically squeaked.

Timmy merely continued staring at her, his expression unchanging.

"_It's kinda creepy, he looks just like Tootie does when she looks... at... him..." _Realization dawned on Vicky. _"Oh no. No no no no no! It's just my imagination, just my imagination! He can't- He likes Tootie... or Tootie likes him! Not- not this!"_

"Timmy?" she didn't even realize she used his real name and not Twerp until the words had already left.

Timmy took her using his real name the wrong way and lunged forward, pulling her into a hug not unlike the ones he had become familiar with thanks to Tootie.

"What the-!" she froze as his arms wrapped around her, she couldn't even bring herself to say anything, too stunned to do anything but stare down at the boy who had her encased in an almost vise-like grip.

"_Hm... maybe I'm being a little too... Tootie here..."_ Timmy thought to himself. He reached behind himself and produced a large bouquet of red roses. _"Good thing I paid attention to all those magicians on TV..."_ "Here Vicky, for you."

Vicky took the roses from him and looked them over, giving them a quick sniff that she hoped he wouldn't notice, then took a deep breath.

"What the hell is going on here?!"


	2. Chapter 2

That was about the reaction he expected from Vicky. _"I may have poured it on a little too strongly there, especially with the roses..."_ He may have been madly in love with Vicky, similar in how Tootie felt towards him, but he generally felt that it was better to take a more relaxed approach to confessing his love, rather than attempt to smother her with it.

"You have three seconds to explain, then you die!"

He didn't react the way she expected him to, over the past few months he acted slightly less afraid in her presence, but he still reacted to her threats and yelling with fear, and that was how she liked it. Now however, he didn't, no fear at all. Just that dreamy expression and smile. She couldn't even place if she was enraged or scared.

"Hello?! I'm serious! What the _hell_ was that?!"

"A... confession?"

"Of what?!" she could feel the rage building, good, rage she understood, she was intimately familiar with anger and rage, not fear or uncertainty.

"That I like you of course."

Vicky's mind crashed into a brick wall, she just stood in front of him in disbelief, not speaking, not blinking, barely even breathing.

"_I think I broke her..."_ he inwardly laughed at the thought.

Vicky's mind was slowly trying to piece itself back together, and it wasn't going well, the shock of what Timmy told her was a bit too much, there was literally no reason for him to have these feelings for her, she tortured him on an almost daily basis, made his life hell, why would he suddenly drop a bomb like this on her? _"It's obviously a trick, he wants to get back at you for all the things you did to him, it just took him until now to enact this plan."_ _"If that's the case, why would he admit to liking me? He stands to lose much more than I do from the confession, I could easily blackmail him and use this against him. It would be stupid to give your enemy such an advantage over you." "Well this _is _the Twerp, maybe he didn't quite think it through all the way?" _The next voice that spoke in her head brought the buried fear screaming back to the surface. _"Maybe he really does like you, like _really _like you..." _This thought was quickly buried, along with her fear. _"No! I refuse to even entertain that notion!"_

"Alright, what's your angle?"

"Angle?"

"Yeah, what are you trying to do? This is a trick of some sort, not a very well thought out one, but it's a trick. Do you really think I'm gullible enough to fall for it?"

"_Well I should've expected this..."_ "This isn't a trick of any kind, this is just how I feel."

"No, you don't."

"Are you seriously trying to tell me what my feelings are? I think I know them better than you do."

"Evidently not, and that's only if this confession isn't some sort of elaborate trick to lull me into a false sense of security, which I know it is."

"I'm gonna have to disagree with you there."

"This trick of yours wasn't very well thought out, I can use this information against you, I _am_ Vicky, evil babysitter, who's to say I won't blackmail you with this information? I'm sure all the kids you go to school with would love to hear that you have a crush on me, of all people. You would've been safer crushing on Trixie, or that blonde friend of hers. But this? I can use this to ruin your reputation, looks like your little plan against me has backfired!"

Timmy paled and frowned at what she said, ruin his reputation at school? "Hmph, go right ahead, tell them everything, doesn't matter to me. This isn't a trick, I really do like you." He wasn't about to back down to one of her threats.

Vicky had been bluffing, if she did reveal the information, she would likely be the one ridiculed, people might even try to turn this back upon her, saying she was some kind of... sexual predator or something, but Timmy didn't know that... did he? Whatever the case, he had called her bluff, and now he was the one on top in the conversation.

"Twerp, I saw you holding Tootie's hand today, you two seemed to be on cloud nine together, why would you suddenly tell me this, just out of the blue? You realize how suspicious it sounds, right? Matter of fact, I bet Tootie and you are in cahoots together, to finally get back at me..."

"I'll admit, when put like that, it does sound suspicious, but Tootie told me herself that when you're at home, you aren't nearly as bad as everyone says you are, so why would she be involved in some plan to make you look bad? She has nothing to gain from shaming you."

"Maybe you just tricked her, or... or... blackmailed her, or something!"

"Now I think you're confusing me with yourself, I don't blackmail, and while I may trick people now and then for a laugh, I didn't trick Tootie, she is my friend, my friend who has a slightly obsessive crush on me, but my friend nonetheless. And I'm not trying to trick you, what I said, it really is how I feel."

"Then why were you holding her hand? Are her feelings for you just a game to you? How do I know these supposed feelings for me aren't just a game?"

"Tootie has had a crush on me for years, ever since we met, she's been trying to make me fall for her, she was the one who initiated the hand holding, the hugs, the attempts at kissing, everything."

"Then why exactly are you leading her on?"

"Leading _her_ on?!"

"Yeah, she always talks about how much of a great person you are and how you two are going out..."

"I invited her to come sit with me, Chester, and AJ because she always sat alone at lunch and in class! I wanted to be her friend, I guess because I felt bad... but we're not together, and we aren't planning any retributive acts against you."

"... I don't believe you."

"Why not?"

"I heard about what happened at the mall, you went over and tried to ask out Trixie Tang. Are you trying to start up some sort of harem or something? Kinda young to be doing that, don't ya think?"

"Harem? No. Most certainly not, I like to think I'm a one woman man. I have no interest in trying to balance several relationships with a bunch of different women, that sounds like far too much work... And if you listened to the whole story, you'd know I got rejected nearly instantaneously..."

"Alright, so Trixie rejected you, that doesn't change the fact that you were trying to woo her, and then seemingly Tootie, and now me, what's up with that?"

"The Trixie thing was misdirection, my friends caught me daydreaming and correctly assumed it was a girl I was daydreaming about, I needed a way to obfuscate who it was I was actually daydreaming about, it was you, by the way, so I made up the fact that I like Trixie, then drove the falsehood home by going over and trying to talk to her. I couldn't have hoped for a better outcome, she shot me down and I made it look like it really bothered me."

"That's... actually pretty smart for a Twerp plan..."

"I'm not as dumb as everyone seems to think I am."

"I dunno, you did reveal to me the feelings you have for me... even if it's bullshit."

"It isn't bullshit! Haven't I made myself pretty clear? I. Like. You. What more do you want me to say to prove it?"

Vicky pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Ugh... as much fun as it would be to make you do a bunch of chores... Just get out of here."

"I live here."

"Up to your room."

Timmy marched up to his room and shut the door.

Vicky stayed in the living room and plopped down on the couch, then put her head in her hands. "I feel a migraine coming on... What the hell is going on with him?! Why is he suddenly telling me he likes me?! I wanted a quiet weekend to go shopping, and I get this?"

_Timmy's Room..._

Timmy entered his room and shut the door behind him, Cosmo and Wanda appeared in their fairy forms out of their fishbowl. "Hey sport! How was your day?"

"Fine, I went to the mall after school with Tootie and the guys. Then I went to talk to that popular girl, Trixie Tang, so as to hide the fact that I like Vicky, and then she rejected me, as I had hoped. Then I walked Tootie home and came here."

"Aren't you kind of... disturbed by Tootie's behavior? The fact that she obsesses over you on a daily basis, has tried to kidnap you... that sort of thing?"

"Well yeah, but I don't hate her, she's just a girl who likes me, and is slightly crazy..."

"Wait! You like Vicky?!" Cosmo interrupted. Timmy and Wanda deadpanned at him.

"Honey, we've known about this for a while, Timmy told us a few years ago..."

"Are you sure? I don't remember it... or anything for that matter!"

"Back to our original conversation... what else happened today? We heard some yelling downstairs..."

"Oh, that, I confessed my feelings to Vicky... she... didn't take it well..."

"Oh... I'm... sorry to hear that sport, what are you gonna do now?"

"It's no big deal, I'm not about to give up, she'll come around... I hope."

"And if she doesn't? It's a very real possibility that you have to be ready to face, she _is_ six years older than you, and she _is _a self proclaimed evil babysitter..."

"...We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, if we come to it."

"As long as you're ready to accept it if it does come to pass, I don't want to see you heartbroken..."

"Thanks Wanda..." he was glad his godparents were so accepting of his liking Vicky, he hadn't expected them to be, but he needed to tell someone, someone who he hoped would be able to help him figure out his feelings.

"Did you give her the roses?"

"Yep. It was kinda funny, when I gave them to her and told her I like her, she just kinda froze, you should've seen the look on her face! I wish I had a camera..." a digital camera then appeared on a strap around Timmy's neck. "Right... sometimes I forget about that..."

_Back in the living room..._

Vicky's phone began to ring. "Ugh... who could it be now?!" she grabbed the phone and looked at the screen. "Great, the Turners, what do they want now? Hello?"

"Vicky? Do you mind going out and picking up the new video game for Timmy? I forgot we pre-ordered it for him, and now we can't go get it, do you mind going to get it for us?"

"Umm... Yeah I think I can handle that..."

"Thank you again Vicky, we'll pay you back for the game and for gas."

"Sure... no... uh... no problem." she absently realized that she didn't bother to put up her saccharine facade.

"Oh and bring Timmy with you! Bye!" Mrs. Turner quickly hung up the phone.

"Wait! What?! Oh, Goddammit!" were his parents in on it too?! _"No... I'm... I'm just being paranoid..."_ "Twerp! Get down here!"

Timmy quickly made his way downstairs and stopped in front of her. "Hey Vicky!" he had that goofy grin on his face again.

"_God, this is frickin' weird..." _"Your parents want me to go and get some game they pre-ordered, and they want me to bring you with me."

"So I get to spend more time with you?" he queried excitedly.

"Unfortunately."

"Yay!" he launched himself at her, attempting to hug her, but she quickly sidestepped and he crashed into the couch.

"Yeah, don't do that."

Timmy hopped off the couch and dusted himself off. "No promises."

"I think I'm gonna need to get a restraining order..."

"I would advise against that."

"Of course you would, most people who do what you're doing would."

"Perhaps, but first of all, the one I have against Tootie has yet to dissuade her, so if you got one against me, I would react similarly to how she does in regards to mine, that is, ignoring its existence. And second, my parents are your best customers, a restraining order would just complicate your getting paid by your richest clients."

"_Damn."_ Vicky sighed in defeat. "You're smart, I'll give you that, a lot smarter and more devious than I thought."

"Misdirection and Deception are very powerful tools in the right hands, I learned that from you, _Vicky_."

He said her name differently than she was used to, she was used to her name being spoken in voices laced with venom, even he had said her voice in this way up until recently. _"Was that a part of the ruse as well?"_ The way he said it now though, it was almost... sweet, loving even. _"These thoughts are gonna drive me to drink, I'm not even old enough to drink!"_

"Let's just go already..." she left the house and got in her car, Timmy following close behind and sitting in the passenger seat up front. "Do you _have_ to sit up front with me?"

"Yeah, I do. Besides, do you really want to chauffeur me around?"

"No I really don't want you to even come with me, but your parents make the rules that dictate how well I get paid, not me..."

"Like rules have ever stopped you before."

He had a point, she could just leave him and get the game, then come back, they likely wouldn't believe him if he told them anyway. Which brought the question: Why was she bringing him? _"__He'd probably just try to launch himself into hugging you as a surprise when you get back." _Yeah! That was it! Certainly no other underlying reasons!

"Put on your seatbelt."

"Why you planning on driving fast or something?"

"Yeah, I do. I always drive fast, wherever I go, and I just don't want you getting hur-"

"What's that?" he had a sly grin on his face.

"Hur-ahem. Just... clearing my throat!"

"Don't want me getting...?"

"_Shit! Betrayed by my own mouth!" _"Getting... any ideas about hugging me while I'm driving! Yeah, that's it."

"So I can hug you when you're not driving? Like at the mall?"

"Yeah sure, I... Wait! No! No hugging!"

Timmy didn't say anything, he just sat there, attempting to stifle some giggles form their conversation.

"Oh... You're gonna get it..."

They continued on in silence until arriving at the mall, when they did, Timmy quickly got out of the car and ran to the driver's side, opening the door for Vicky.

"Really?"

His response was the goofy grin again.

"This act of yours? It isn't gonna work, I know you're trying to trick me. I'll admit you're smarter and a better actor than I thought you were, but I can still see right through you."

Timmy just shrugged his shoulders in response. "Think what you like."

"Hmph." she stood up and slammed the car door, then quickly walked off, Timmy quickly chased after her and caught up, matching her pace to keep from being left behind, though Vicky's legs were longer than his, and the pace was slightly tiring.

An idea came to him as he walked with her, and he figured it wouldn't hurt to try it, well it might hurt, but it would probably be worth it. If anything, he could blame Tootie for putting the idea in his head through her actions earlier. He grasped for Vicky's hand and, upon grabbing hold, interlaced his fingers with hers. Vicky immediately stopped abruptly, surprising Timmy. A look at her face revealed that her cheeks had turned pink, though only very slightly, most people who didn't see Vicky everyday would probably not even notice it, but Timmy did.

Vicky stared at her hand, locked in a light grip with his. She lightly tugged at her hand, trying to get him to release it without causing a scene. She then stared daggers at Timmy, hoping he would understand the look in her eyes, a look that said something along the lines of: "You are going to die." His face however, looked back at her quite innocently, like a kid asking their parent what they did wrong.

Vicky looked around the clothing store they were in, a futile attempt to find someone, or something that could help her out of this awkward situation, but everyone went about their business, not caring about the two people awkwardly standing around, holding hands. "Timmy! Let go!" she whispered to him.

"Nah, I think I'll keep holding on, these places could be full of kidnappers or murderers, holding your hand makes me feel safe."

She could admit, he was very dedicated to this plan of his, despite how hard she was trying to rebuff him, it didn't seem to bother him much. And he was really pouring on the charm. No one else had ever been this dedicated with her, not Ricky, not Winston Dunsworth, not even Chip Skylark. But she was convinced there were ulterior motives to this nice guy act.

Vicky groaned in defeat and gave up trying to free her hand, his little speech would make her look bad if she forcibly took her hand back now. They proceeded out of the clothing store and into the main mall area, a security guard sped by on a Segway scooter.

"I hate those things..."

"Yeah, me too." Vicky didn't recognize the voice that spoke, it certainly wasn't Timmy's, it was far too gruff and grown up. It came from a figure sitting nearby on a wooden bench, wearing a security guard uniform, though the shirt was untucked, and he was smoking a cigarette.

"Oh! Hey Wolfe! What's up?" Timmy apparently knew this person.

"Same old, same old, kid." he stood and walked over to Timmy and Vicky. "What brings you here today? On a date with your girlfriend?" he gestured towards their interlocked hands.

"Wha-! No! It isn't like that! I'm-I'm just!" Vicky sputtered nervously.

"She's my babysitter. Wolfe, this is Vicky. Vicky, this is Chief of Mall Security Arlen Wolfe."

"Hey. Nice to meet you, so you're the one I've heard a little about."

"How evil I am I assume?" Vicky heard the sound of someone riding a skateboard behind her.

"Wha? Evil? I don't- Gimme a sec." the skateboarder rode by and was met with a blow to his shin from Wolfe's police baton. There was a sickening crunch heard upon the baton connecting with the shin, the skateboard kept rolling, the boarder slammed down hard on the floor.

"Dude! What the fuck?! I think my leg is broken!"

"No skateboarding in the mall." the boarder continued to roll around on the floor in pain.

"Anyway, I haven't heard anything about an evil babysitter, no, I pretty much only hear good things about you, how pretty you are, how dedicated you are to keeping an eye on Timmy, how beautiful your fiery red hair is, his words, not mine. By the way, Timmy, you're right, those eyes are pretty."

Vicky looked at Timmy, who was now blushing bright red and rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, kinda... kinda wanted to say those things myself..."

"Oh... whoops! Sorry about that, kid." he turned back to the skateboarder and watched him roll around for a few more seconds before checking his watch and delivering a bone shattering kick to the skateboarders side.

"Ah! Dude what the hell?! Kicking me while I'm down?!"

"I'm not your 'dude', and you are now loitering." he flicked some ashes on to the boarder, who resumed rolling around on the floor, now holding his side as well.

"Big, bad Wolfe, same as ever..."

"I haven't had my coffee yet, shop doesn't open until night time."

"Why not get coffee in the morning?"

"Because it tastes like ass from all the other shops, only the girl at _my_ coffee shop knows how to make it right. And they only open at night."

The boarder continued to roll around on the floor then grabbed Vicky's ankle, surprising her. "Please lady, help me! I need an ambulance!" Vicky looked down at him and shook him off her ankle. Wolfe rolled his eyes and stepped forward, then stomped the boarder's forearm that he used to grab Vicky.

"Now you're harassing a lady? You must be a masochist or something!"

"Why are you doing this?! You have something against skateboarders or something?!"

Wolfe scratched the stubble on his chin in thought. "Just haven't had my coffee, and you were just in the wrong place, at the wrong time."

He turned his attention back to Timmy and Vicky. "So what brings you two here?"

"Just picking up a game."

"Ah! Gotcha. Well, I should get back to work. You two take care now." he returned to the bench they had found him at.

Timmy and Vicky walked past the boarder who writhed in pain on the floor.

"So who was he, exactly?"

"Him? A friend of the family, he helped me out once, about... a year ago. Francis tried to say I was stealing things from several stores around the mall, hoping to use me as a scape goat so he could steal things himself, but Francis didn't think about the fact that most stores these days have security cameras, and Wolfe helped me out. He also smashed Francis' hands for stealing."

"Sounds like my kind of guy..." Timmy looked at her with an odd expression on his face. "Not like that! Just that he isn't afraid to hurt people, like me."

"Yeah, he's a good guy to those he likes and those who don't go around breaking rules."

"Oh, nevermind then. I'm not a big fan of rules." Vicky had apparently forgotten that they still were holding hands.

"Still, being friends with the chief of security has its perks."

They eventually arrived at the video game store and Timmy released her hand, just in case his friends from school were around, he didn't want to fight that battle right now, though the fading warmth he felt in his hand wasn't particularly welcome.

"What? Now you release my hand?!" she was whispering again, but it was an angry sounding whisper.

"My friends could be in here, I just don't want to put either of us in an... uncomfortable situation."

"Didn't seem to bother you earlier, putting me in an uncomfortable situation, I mean."

"Oh, well in that case." he grabbed her hand and began to lace his fingers with hers when she yanked her hand back and out of his.

The pink was back in her cheeks. "Lets just get the frickin' game and go."

"Fine with me."

Vicky paid for the game and they left the store, there had been no sign of Chester or AJ inside.

Timmy walked next to Vicky and grasped her hand again, she wasn't fast enough to pull away this time.

"Ugh... have you always been this... clingy?"

"When I was young, I would hold my mom's hand in public, but there are a lot of weirdos who would try and abduct a little kid. It made me feel safe. But once I got a little older, I didn't, my parents were never around, and when they were, they usually pulled away in public or went to do their own thing while I was left to my own devices..." there was a downcast expression on his face now.

Vicky sighed loudly. "I'm not your mom..."

"No, but I like you. I want to hold your hand. It feels... nice."

Vicky had to admit, it did. But there was no reason to tell him that, her pride wasn't about to let her. "Hmph, speak for yourself..."

Timmy inwardly sighed. _"She isn't going to make this easy..." "What about the thrill of the chase? She'll come around eventually." "She might not..." _His thoughts were arguing back and forth, and not being particularly helpful. "Do... you wanna get something to eat? I'll pay."

She was hungry, she hadn't actually gotten a chance to eat yet, when she was out shopping, she was also going to buy food for herself, but the Turners had interrupted that quest. "That sounds dangerously close to you asking me out on a date. Is that what you're attempting?"

"It's whatever you want it to be."

"You're only going to end up disappointed if you keep this up, Twerp..."

"I'll be the judge of that."

"Fine, lead the way." she didn't bother to attempt pulling her hand away. _"Hm... maybe I could take advantage of this..."_

"_Well, I guess it's a start..." _He pulled her along excitedly, not noticing the blonde girl hidden behind a large potted palm tree.

_POV shift to Veronica..._

"It's him! He remembered my name! Oh Timmy, if only we weren't separated by so much, we could actually be together... He's with that red head... Vicky. She must be the 'evil babysitter' I've heard about from the unpopular kids..." she didn't bother to put up her facade now, that valley girl accent was a pain in the ass to keep up.

She quickly climbed up the palm tree and nestled herself among the fronds.

"Hm... where are they going?" she watched as Timmy and Vicky walked through the food court, evidently trying to find a restaurant to order from. Timmy had a smile on his face, Vicky sported a bored looking expression on hers. "Are- are they on a date?!" Veronica leaned forward a bit to get a better look, the tree shook slightly in response. "No, probably just him being nice to her, he's always so nice to people..." she sighed happily as she watched him.

Veronica wasn't happy that she had to be so mean to people, but she knew it was important to keep up her reputation, she didn't want to be alone like that Tootie girl always was. She'd rather be mean than be alone.

"Good thing Trixie turned him down, I probably can't hold a candle to her. Even if she is a shallow, hollow, spoiled little brat, she has her looks and he seems to have some kind of a crush on her, I saw the way he looked at her, all dreamy eyed and smiling..."

The trunk of the tree began to bend and creak, though Veronica was too absorbed in her spying to notice.

She watched as Timmy and Vicky ate at a table, he seemed to be trying to have a conversation with her, but she didn't seem to care, just occasionally nodding and, Veronica assumed, 'mm-hm'-ing. "Jeez, could she look any more apathetic? Here he is, trying to be nice to 'Icky Vicky' and she doesn't even seem to give a damn! I would never be so cruel! What a bitch!"

_POV shift back to Timmy and Vicky..._

Vicky glanced over toward the game store they came from, she felt like she was being watched. Timmy was telling her some story, but she had tuned him out shortly after he began, merely nodding and making sounds of agreement now and then. She noticed a blonde ponytail in the palm tree not far from the store entrance. "Hey Twerp, hate to interrupt, but how many palm trees do you know of that have ponytails, blonde ponytails to be precise?"

"Um... none..."

"Then I think we may have a fly on the wall..."

"Who?"

"How many blonde girls do you know with ponytails?"

"Hmm... let's see... just uh... yeah, just Veronica, friend of Trixie, part of the popular kids' group."

"Hmph, so she goes to school with you?"

"Yeah... why does it matter?"

"It doesn't." Vicky glared at the palm tree and, a second later, it was struck by a lightning bolt, causing it to topple over, despite the fact that it was a perfectly cloudless day, and they were inside a mall.

"Whoa! Did you see that?! That was awesome!"

"I know! Weird huh?"

_Return to Veronica's POV..._

Veronica now laid on a pile of slightly singed palm fronds. "Owie... that hurt..." her eyes were watering slightly from the pain.

Luckily for her, Wolfe happened to be nearby when the palm tree fell over. Though he didn't hurry; he assumed that nobody was nearby, and if they were, he assumed they'd be dead, and dead people don't qualify as an emergency in Wolfe's book. He approached the collapsed tree and realized there was a blonde girl among the remains of the tree.

"You aren't dead, are ya?"

"No..." she sounded pretty pathetic right about now.

"You all right then?" he took another drag off his cigarette.

"No... not really... my leg really hurts."

He looked down to see that her leg was bruised and a little swollen. He sighed exasperatedly and dropped his cigarette, stomping it out. "You frickin' kids need to learn some limits... like not climbing palm trees! You ever wonder why no one builds tree houses in these types of trees? They're too thin and weak, they can't support much weight, and if they get struck by lightning, well, this happens."

"No offense but, could you save the lecture for some other time...?"

"Hmph." Wolfe knelt down and picked her up, and began walking away from the scene of destruction, carrying her bridal-style. "I'll take you to the infirmary, you're lucky, you know that?"

"Lucky I'm not dead...?"

"Well yeah, but you're also lucky I'm doing this for you, I hate most kids, but I've got a soft spot for pretty girls." Veronica looked at him, an unsure expression on her face. "Not like that. You're in perfectly safe hands, I'm not a weirdo like some people around here."

"Am... am I in trouble?"

"I'll just say you were nearby when it fell, not climbing it."

"Thanks..."

"Yep."


	3. Chapter 3

"So, you wanna tell me why you were up in that tree, Veronica?"

"Do I have to?" Veronica held an ice pack on her leg, she was lucky it wasn't broken, but the doctor told her it would be best to stay off it for a few days.

"Nope, but if you don't, I might have to put your name in the report, which could affect your ability to return to the mall."

Veronica groaned in annoyance. "I was... just checking in on someone... a friend."

"Oh? And who might that be?"

"I'd rather not say..."

"I'd rather you did say."

"My friend Timmy."

"Turner? You're his friend?"

"Yes, I am, we've known each other for a while now."

"Really? Well it's good we have a mutual friend then, huh?"

Veronica froze upon hearing this, Timmy was friends with the head of mall security? _"It's fine, just as long as they don't talk much..."_

"Y'know, it's funny, he's never mentioned you before."

"_Shit."_ "I'm sure he has..."

"Nope. I would remember a female friend, he doesn't really have any besides that Tootie girl. The rest of his friends are male."

"Uh... Umm..."

"So, you wanna start telling the truth, or what?"

Veronica sighed in defeat. "I was spying on him, I like him, like really like him, and was hoping he likes me back, no I _know_ he likes me."

"Based upon?"

"When he came over to the popular kids' table earlier today-"

"Popular kids?"

"Yeah, you know, rich and famous kids, we mostly act snobbish..."

"And here I thought you were a nice girl..."

"I am nice! I just act mean so I can blend in with them! It's better than being alone..."

"You ever think that being yourself might get you real friends?"

"We both know that isn't true in today's society."

"Have you ever tried?"

"Well no, but-"

"Hmph. Lets get back on point, he came over to the popular kids' table..."

"And he started trying to talk to Trixie..."

"Tang? The 'most popular girl in school' from what I've heard..." there was obvious sarcasm in his voice.

"Right. Wait, why do you say it like that?"

"Timmy has mentioned her, and not usually fondly, he seems well aware of the fact that she is a spoiled brat."

"Odd... he came over, I assume, to ask her out, but she shot him down pretty quick... but now you're saying that he doesn't even like her..."

"Hm... either he lied to me, which he really has no reason to, or he asked her out as a cover for some other motive..."

"He did say hi to me and Trixie when he came over to our table... Oh! Maybe he actually wanted to get close to me!"

Wolfe stared at her for several seconds, a look of disbelief on his face. "How did you come to that conclusion? You just said he went over to talk to Trixie..."

"He must be shy, or something! He actually wanted to talk to me, but wanted to try and talk to Trixie first! That way he could be friends with her and work his way to me! That's so clever!"

"Yeah, I don't know how your thought process is putting this idea together but..."

"It's the only thing that makes sense! He really does like me!"

"_I thought they said blondes had more fun, not that they were crazy..." _"I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you, he's never mentioned you, in passing or otherwise..."

"Nope! He definitely likes me! Ooh! I'm so excited! Now I can put my plan into motion!" she stood up and ignored her hurt leg, letting the ice pack fall to the floor. "Thanks Wolfe, talking to you has been really helpful! I gotta head out!" she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. "See ya!" she then ran out of the infirmary and back to the main mall area, completely ignoring the pain in her leg in favor of the prospect of wooing Timmy.

"Jesus... that kid either has the best luck in the world, or the worst, kinda hard to figure out which one it is." he stood and headed in the direction Veronica went. "I'd better check and see if the two lovebirds are still around..."

_Food Court..._

"Do you think whoever was in the tree is okay?"

"I don't care, if that's what you're asking..."

"It wasn't."

"They're probably fine, the fall wasn't nearly enough to kill someone, unless the tree fell on whoever it was, then, I'm not so sure."

"I hope it wasn't Veronica..."

"Why? She another girl you like?"

"No, I don't like or dislike her, I nothing her. But I don't wish harm on her either, she hasn't wronged me in any way..."

"Unless she was spying on us..."

"I doubt she was, she probably just likes climbing trees or something..."

"Yep. Just keep being naïve..."

They sat in silence for the next several minutes eating their food before Vicky spoke up again.

"What Wolfe said earlier... was it true?"

"What uh... What part?" Timmy was a bit nervous now, he hadn't meant for Wolfe to be the one to tell her, he wanted it to be him, just when he had the courage to say it.

"Y'know... about how great I am, my 'fiery' hair, my eyes..."

"Uh..."

"Hey you two." Wolfe had appeared seemingly from nowhere and interrupted the conversation.

"_Phew... saved again..."_ "Hey Wolfe, did you see that tree?"

"Yep. I saw it, don't worry, the girl who was in it is alright."

"That's a relief... who was it? Anyone I know?"

"Kinda..."

Vicky had tuned out of the conversation, too caught up in her thoughts about what Wolfe had told her Timmy said. Her mind screamed at her to forget it, that it was just a trick by Timmy to get her to let her guard down. Then he would strike and make her look like a fool in front of everyone, maybe even lie and say they entered into some kind of relationship, she could go to jail for something like that! At the same time, a much smaller voice that was completely alien to her told her that maybe he really did care, that all of this wasn't a trick. She could admit that she was lonely, all those years of being mean had rendered her very unapproachable, and although she didn't like being lonely, she also didn't want to come out of her comfort zone. By now, she had sworn herself off any sort of romantic or even friendly relationship, she figured that was how it would be. A third voice also spoke, and it told her to do what she does best, to take advantage of the situation, he wanted to give her things, so why not accept them and lead him on? She had nothing to lose from this approach, and he would learn about how the world really is. Of course, this all hinged on whether or not his feelings were genuine, if they were, she would take advantage, if not, she would just have to go about it carefully and preempt him if he tried to trick her.

"Vicky, you mind if I borrow your boyfriend for a sec?"

Hearing her name snapped her from her thoughts, and she looked up. "Sorry what? I was daydreaming there..."

"I'm just gonna borrow your boyfriend real quick, that alright?"

"He isn't my-! Just go..."

Timmy and Wolfe walked off a bit so they were out of earshot of Vicky.

"So?"

"The girl in the tree was Veronica."

"Trixie's friend?"

"Apparently. She seems to think that you have a thing for her."

"Is she crazy too?"

"Seems that way. Why did you go and try to ask Trixie out?"

"Ugh... this again, I just had this conversation with Vicky, it was misdirection, my friends were asking if I had a crush on someone, and they assumed it was Trixie, I decided to play along so that they wouldn't have any suspicions about who it actually was. That's when I went over to Trixie and talked to her."

"Did you have any interactions that might suggest you liked Veronica?"

"All I did was say "Hi Veronica" as I walked over, but I said "Hi Trixie" too..."

"Well she thinks you are trying to become friends with Trixie to get close to her, and now thinks that you have some sort of crush on her... I'd watch out if I were you."

"I should've known something like this would happen... my plans have a habit of backfiring in some way..."

"Heh. Yeah, we've all been there at some point... How're things going with her?" he pointed over to Vicky, she was still sitting at the table, though she wasn't particularly focused on anything.

"Ah... alright, I suppose. She isn't making it easy, she thinks I'm trying to trick her, get back at her for all these evil things she's done to me, she doesn't realize that I don't care about things like that, I care about her..."

"Have you told her that you don't care what she did? Trying to make you miserable? Have you tried telling her how much you care?"

"Not so directly, no. I don't want to drop something so serious on her and scare her away, like Tootie tries with me..."

"Eh, I see your point..." he then saw Veronica heading straight for where Vicky was sitting. "Shit! Get down!" he pulled Timmy behind a low wall in the food court.

"What is it?"

"Look!" he pointed to Veronica, who now sat at the table across from Vicky, a smile on her face. Vicky had seemingly not noticed her yet.

Timmy stood and tried to rush over, but was stopped and yanked back by Wolfe. "What are you doing?! Vicky will _kill_ her! I need to-"

"Lets just wait and see how this plays out, I won't let anyone get killed, don't worry."

"But!"

"Just wait."

_At the table..._

"Hi, I'm Veronica."

Vicky appeared to still be lost in thought, and didn't respond.

"I've heard quite a bit about you, most people say you're evil, but I was hoping that since you babysit Timmy, and he likes me, we might be able to try and be friends..."

"Huh?" _"Who the hell is this girl? Why can't people let me think in peace? It's not like I have a big smile on my face, and a sign that says "Come over here and tell me your problems!" I'm supposed to be feared, dammit!" _"What do you want? I'm really not in the mood for entertaining..."

"I just wanna be friends since you take care of my little dove, Timmy."

"_Little dove? What the hell?! Next she'll say something about how much she loves him..." _"So you like him? How much exactly?"

"My love for him burns with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. I'd say that should be pretty indicative."

Vicky slammed her head down on the table to keep from bursting out laughing at this. "Ow..."

"You alright?"

Vicky raised her head back up, she had a smile on her face, and her lips were quivering from holding in her laughter, her eyes watered slightly from the hit to the head. "Yep! I'm fine!"

"So anyway... what do you say? Wanna be friends?"

"I'm not really looking for friends..."

"Oh please? I mean, I understand, I am just using you to get to him in a way, but I really like him, and he likes me, you're not so evil that you'd get in the middle of true love and try to stop it, are you?"

"_This girl is going about this all wrong, first she acts all nice, then says she just wants to use me to get to Timmy, then calls me evil?! Still, she might make a good buffer for the Twerp so he stops chasing after me... But do I really want that? Maybe I like being chased, even if it is by _him_..."_

"Vicky?" _"This girl is weird... she keeps drifting off, is she high or something? How can she be fit to take care of Timmy?"_

"I... should really go find Timmy, he went to buy something and it's getting late..."

"You didn't answer my question!"

"Ugh... gimme your number..." _"I hate people..."_

"Great! I'm so glad we can be friends! I'll talk to you later girlfriend!" she hugged Vicky then sped off, limping slightly as she does.

"Urgh... I think I'm gonna throw up..." Vicky visibly shuddered.

_Back at Timmy and Wolfe..._

"See? Nothing happened, no one's dead."

"It could've gone much worse... I don't know how she was able to hug Vicky without bursting into flames."

"Maybe you're having some effect on her."

"I don't know if that's a good thing though, I was hoping she would just send her away, plus she thinks I like her and she told Vicky! Why do my plans all go to shit like this?!"

"Well I suggest you tell Vicky how you really feel, I remember the conversation the two of you were having before I showed up, it might be wise to revisit that, you don't want to seem like some creepy kid with a harem fantasy. So far we've got: Tootie, Veronica, Trixie, and Vicky."

"Trixie doesn't like me and was a falsehood, I told her that, Tootie likes me, not the other way around, and is Vicky's sister, Veronica is apparently obsessed because I remembered her name, ugh... that just reminded me of Ember McLain... and Vicky is the one I actually like..."

"All the more reason to tell her, you told me things are progressing slowly and she is afraid that you're trying to trick her, you don't really have anything to lose..."

Timmy sighed loudly. "Yeah, I suppose..."

"Just watch out, I know you aren't an idiot, but if you really do like Vicky, don't go ruining it by discovering feelings for one of these other girls, like some dumbass from a soap opera."

"That happens a lot in those?"

"Too often."

"Alright, thanks Wolfe, I'll see ya around."

"Yep." Wolfe walked off toward some store then stopped and listened, he thought he heard the sound of skateboard wheels and headed in their direction. "These punks never learn..."

Timmy walked back over toward Vicky, who was standing by the table they had been sitting at, though she was looking towards where Veronica had run, and didn't notice him. So naturally, she didn't notice him grab her hand and lace his fingers between hers again, at least not until it was too late for her to retrieve her hand. She looked at her hand, then over to him. "Really?"

"Really."

"Y'know, if I look at this from a more illogical standpoint, that is to say, that you aren't faking all this and it isn't a trap to get back at me for what I've done to you... which isn't how I'm looking at it! Just so you know!"

"Uh-huh..." that annoying goofy grin was back.

"And that you really do like me, for real, then I can't help but think you must be insane."

"Well, maybe a little..."

"Why can't you just be normal? Why can't you just like someone your own age? Someone who deserves your affection, someone who is sweet like you are?"

"You think I'm sweet?"

"I'll admit, you've treated me better today than any of the guys I've gone out with, and I was actually dating them..."

"That's something, isn't it?"

"You still might just be trying to trick me, I'm not saying I don't deserve it, after how I've been, but..."

"You're paranoid."

"As if you wouldn't be if the roles were reversed!"

"_Damn, I'll have to give her that one, it does seem kinda like an about-face in personality..."_

"That girl Veronica, you probably saw her talking to me, she seemed nice, or Tootie, she likes you, and you even held her hand, so you must like her to some extent..."

"Well I-"

"Or even Trixie! All three are better options than... than me." Vicky was looking down now, her hair hiding her eyes, she wanted him to realize it, that she wasn't as great as he thought she was, she didn't want to give her mind the chance to take advantage of his feelings for her, to use him like she used so many others. But even then, she couldn't bring herself to flat out deny him either, she didn't want to break his heart, she was mean, but she couldn't do that to him.

"Maybe you're right-"

"_Oh thank god! He's actually seeing the light!"_

"Maybe they are nice girls... well, not Trixie, she's still a spoiled brat. I don't have any feelings for her. I suppose Veronica isn't all that bad, even if she is following me."

"_And crazy, but I... won't tell you that."_

"Tootie is really nice, it's kinda hard to believe that you're her sister, no offense. And she _is_ my friend, and from our interactions, you know the normal ones, I can tell that she really does genuinely like me but..."

"But?"

"None of them are you, and it's you who I like."

"_What the hell?! I thought he would- And I could- I don't even know what to say, I really don't..." _"Huh?" was all her mind could get out.

"I said: I like you, not Veronica, not Trixie, not Tootie, not anyone else, just you."

"Unbelievable... do you even know why?"

"Why what?"

"Why you like me?"

"_Shit, I really hoped she wouldn't ask..."_ the reason Timmy hoped this was because he was pretty unsure himself, he didn't know why he liked her, it wasn't the torture, he wasn't a masochist, maybe it was because whenever she yelled at him or told him to do something, there was something behind her anger that he could see, like she somehow felt bad for having to do what she did. Maybe it was because she had stuck her neck out for him on multiple occasions and even saved his life more than once, he couldn't be sure. "I... don't really know, I just do."

Vicky facepalmed with her non-held hand. "You just do?"

"Umm... yeah. I mean, like when I hold your hand, right? I said it makes me feel safe, and it does, but it makes me feel... something else too, I can't really explain it..."

"I think you read too many romance stories..." she wasn't about to admit that the feeling he described was felt by her as well.

"Well, maybe I do, but even if I can't quite explain why I feel the way I do, that doesn't make my feelings any less genuine!"

Vicky sighed in exasperation. "Lets just go back to your house before more people you go to school with try to befriend me..."

"Is it alright if I keep holding your hand?"

"Isn't it a little late to ask permission?"

"...Perhaps..."

"Whatever."

After navigating back through the mall, they got in Vicky's car and began driving back to Timmy's house.

"So, what did Wolfe wanna talk to you about?"

"Just about how Veronica may be crazy and obsessed with me."

"Oh, don't worry, she is."

"Great. Anything else? I saw that hug, looked like you found it... awkward."

"Apparently she thinks we're friends."

"Did it have anything to do with you two exchanging numbers?"

"Possibly."

"I seem to have a habit of attracting crazy girls..."

"Maybe they can sense your craziness."

"Too bad for them, my craziness is reserved for only one person."

"I'm contemplating putting you in the trunk."

They spent the rest of the ride in silence, and upon reaching the house, Vicky quickly got out of the car before Timmy could get the door for her. "I'm gonna take a nap, so it looks like you get a reprieve from chores today. Go play your game."

"Anything I can get you?"

"No, just some peace and quiet."

Timmy began ascending the stairs to his room.

"Hey!" he turned to Vicky at the sound of her voice. "Thanks for lunch... Twerp."

"Your welcome, _Vicky_." he said her voice in that way again, the way she could never quite put into words, then went up to his room.

Vicky collapsed onto the couch and closed her eyes, she wasn't really tired, but hoped he would respect her request for space, she needed to think about all this, his feelings toward her, and whatever it was that she felt.

_Timmy's room..._

Cosmo and Wanda appeared from their fishbowl. "How did your date go sport?"

"I wouldn't really call it a date, but I think we're making progress, though she still thinks I'm trying to trick her, so there's that."

"Oh... well give her time, she probably isn't used to this type of thing, being abrasive doesn't get you many friends, and certainly doesn't get you love. You really can't blame her for being suspicious, all you can do is try to prove that what you feel is real."

"Yeah, I know... It's just- It's hard sometimes... y'know?"

"Nothing worth achieving comes easy honey."

"Yeah..." Timmy sat down and started playing his new game. "Apparently my plans have backfired in a few ways, Veronica, Trixie's friend, likes me, Vicky thinks I like Trixie and Veronica thinks I like her. All of this seriously discredits the fact that I like Vicky."

"I had no idea you were so popular with the ladies, sport."

"Technically just two: Veronica and Tootie."

"Do you like them?"

"Well... not really... Veronica seems kinda crazy, plus she's part of the popular kids' group, so she probably has a lot in common with Trixie. And Tootie... she's nice, nicer than I thought she'd be now that we're friends, she really seems nice, when she isn't obsessing over me. If she hadn't been so persistent, and had just acted like a normal friend, maybe things could've worked out between us..."

"Sounds like you have some regrets..."

"*sigh* Maybe, I can't help but feel bad when I turn Tootie down, especially since I like her sister, her sister doesn't like me, and Tootie likes me, but I don't like her. And earlier today, I held her hand and walked her home, which pretty much undid all the work I put forth to show her that I don't reciprocate her feelings, so now she likely thinks that the two of us have a chance."

"Why did you go back on how you felt in the first place?"

"I... felt bad I guess... She deserves to have friends and be loved like anyone else, and I want to be her friend, but I don't know how I feel about her. Sometimes, I really do like being around her, it's even pleasant, but usually she's all over me, hugging, kissing, and I don't like that, it's too... forward."

"I'd ask if you told her this, but I'm pretty sure you have. Has Vicky reacted the way you do to Tootie when faced with your feelings?"

"I'm not nearly as obsessive as Tootie, I don't have a single picture of Vicky..." this realization saddened him slightly. "There's no shrine to Vicky up here, and I don't follow her home and attempt to kidnap her and force her to love me. But... she has reacted in a way that suggests that she thinks I'm insane. She tells me that _if_ this isn't all a trick then I must be crazy for liking her..."

"So that means she is at least entertaining the possibility that your feelings are genuine."

"It does?"

"Yep. You just have to hope that she is willing to reciprocate."

"When you put it that way, I feel like an ant... fighting the sun."

"You're being way too dramatic."

"Alright, so maybe my chances are better than that, but not by much..."

"That's good, just keep up that positive attitude!"

"Meh..." he waved Wanda away. Leaving just Cosmo.

"Why don't you try taking her picture, that way you'll have one?"

"Knowing Vicky, she's likely camera shy."

"Isn't she asleep downstairs?"

"How would you know?"

"I dunno."

"Eh, if I was younger, I might consider your plan, but taking a picture of someone without their permission, while they're sleeping? Nah, sounds like something a perv would do."

"Maybe ask her then? All the pictures Tootie has of you are without your permission, and since you don't want to just take a picture of her without her knowledge, maybe you should just ask?"

"I seriously doubt she'll be agreeable to this idea..."

"You have a better one then?"

"That stupid act of yours doesn't fool me, you just pretend to be an idiot."

Cosmo now held an orange cat sporting an eyepatch. "Timmy! Have you met Jimmy?" the cat raised it claws and shredded Cosmo like paper.

"Then again..."

"Wanda, you may want to help Cosmo, he's... kind of... all over the place..." he _did_ want a picture of her, but he _didn't_ know how to go about asking her, though at the same time, it would help show that his feelings were real. "Well either way, I can't do it today, she seemed tired, and I know better than to get between a woman and her sleep."

_Living room..._

Vicky laid on the couch, her arm draped over her eyes, she still hadn't fallen asleep, too caught up in her thoughts. _"Why does he like me? He has girls nipping at his heels, all trying to be with him, and he likes me, of all people... It must be all the time we've spent together, we've known each other for years now, but I never noticed _this_..." _"Screw it, I need a drink." she made her way to the kitchen, and the Turner's liquor cabinet. She opened it, realizing it was unlocked and grabbed the first one she found, some black labeled bottle with an amber liquid inside. "Hm. Well..." she looked at the label. "Jack, how about you and I share a night with..." Vicky walked over to the fridge and opened it. "Hmm... Coke! Perfect!" Vicky hadn't bothered to look up the proper way to mix the drink, but that mattered little, she just wanted to get drunk, and not think about whatever was going on between her and Timmy. Vicky poured herself a drink and immediately drank it down. "Ick, they weren't kidding when they said you don't drink it for the taste..." despite the rather foul taste, she poured herself another drink and immediately drank this one too. "Maybe... maybe I should've... should've put less Jack and more... Coke! Coke, my friend, you gotta, you gotta step up your game! Jack's doin' all the work here..." She poured more Coke with her third drink and took a sip. "Yeh-Yep... that's better. More Coke, less Jack..." she finished her drink and looked at the bottle. "Jack? You're empty..." The bottle didn't respond, it was a bottle. "Well fuck you too!" Vicky threw the bottle at the trash can, it went in, but shattered when it did. "Shut up Jack! You're too loud... and Coke? You're too quiet... Speak up!" The bottle of Coke didn't respond either, after all, it was a bottle of Coca Cola. "Back to cold storage for you then!" Vicky put the bottle back in the fridge and slammed the door. "You try ta escape? I'll get Captain Mor-Morgan, he'll straighten you out..."

Timmy entered the kitchen now. Wondering what the crash was, and who Vicky was talking to. "Vicky? Who are you talking to?"

"Oh! Hey little buddy! Wassup? I was just reprimanding Coke for being an ass."

"Coke?"

Vicky opened the fridge. "Hey Coke! Ya got a visi-visible-visitor! Yeah! A visitor."

Timmy looked into the fridge at the slightly dented Coca Cola bottle, then turned to look at Vicky and looked past her at the open liquor cabinet. "Ah jeez... Have you been drinking?"

"Pfft! No! That's ridicu- ridiculo- crazy. You're crazy."

"How many have you had?"

"Three? Yeah. I has had three drinky tonight..."

"How many fingers am I holding up?" he held up two fingers.

"Nine! Wait, six... Onety two?"

"Wrong on all accounts, sorry."

Vicky looked like she was about to cry. "Oh..."

"You can't hold your alcohol, can you?"

"I can! I just never drank with Jack before, he knows how to party..."

"Ugh... you're not gonna get sick are you?"

"Noes! I don't get sick!"

"Can you walk?"

"Yeah! I'm a good walker!" she took a few tentative steps forward and fell, Timmy moved to catch her and didn't expect her to be so limp, so she fell on him, but better than the floor. "Oh! I lied! I'm not a good walker!" she burst out laughing at herself.

"Yeah..." much as he enjoyed the feeling of Vicky pressed against him, he helped her to her feet. "Just lean on the counter while I clean up."

"'Kay!"

Timmy felt like he was taking care of a child version of Vicky, not a drunken adult version. He washed out her glass and some light spillage, then turned to Vicky. "You okay?"

"I'm fine Tim-Tim... or wait Twerpy? No... Timmy! That's you name!"

"Your."

"Mine?"

"No 'your' name."

"My name is Vicky! Pleased to meet you!" she held out her hand.

Timmy grabbed it and led her back to the couch. "You should get some sleep. You're gonna have a monster headache when you wake up..."

"Monsters?! Where?!"

"No I..."

"You need to protect me from the monsters, I's the princess!"

Timmy pinched the bridge of his nose. "There are no monsters!"

"Am I still the princess?"

"Sure."

"Well a couch is no place for a princess to sleep! Find bed!"

"I don't-"

"Please find me a bed?" the voice she spoke in sounded suspiciously similar to the one she used when sweet talking people.

"Alright, let me take the fair princess to my parents room, they have a nice big bed..."

"Yay! Yeah do that! Nice big comfy bed! Lead the way Sir Knight!"

"I'm a knight now?"

"Yeah! You are Sir Twerp of Dimmsdale!"

Timmy held her hand and led her up the stairs to his parents room, he tried the door and it didn't budge. "Ugh... they must've locked it..."

"Wha? But... no bed?" Vicky again looked like she'd burst into tears at any second.

"Sorry, I forgot they lock it sometimes..."

"But-but..."

"Look, don't cry I'll just..." _"There's only one bed left in the house..."_ Timmy had a feeling he'd regret this decision when Vicky sobered up, but it was better than dealing with a distraught, drunken Vicky who was on the verge of tears. "C'mon..." he led her to his room now and opened the door. He quickly winked at Cosmo and Wanda in their fishbowl and they swam into their castle, he was pleased that they had figured out signs for each other so they could communicate without speaking. He led her over to the bed. "You can sleep here tonight." he was glad his parents had purchased a full size bed, the twin one he had was getting rather small.

"Yay!" Vicky flew past him and landed on the bed, then snuggled herself under the covers. "Comfy!"

"Alright then, I'll be on the couch if you need me..."

"No!"

"Wha?"

"You gotta stay!" she moved the comforter and patted the spot next to her.

"I really don't think that's a good idea..."

"You gotta! The knight must protect the princess!"

"Yeah but..."

Vicky made a whining sound and her eyes started to water.

"Fine! Just please, don't cry..." he laid down next to her and she threw the comforter back over him, then wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled her head against his shoulder. _"What am I doing?! She's gonna kill me when she wakes up!" _"Hey, are you gonna be mad and hit me when you wake up?"

"No... Princesses don't hit brave knights..."

"Goodnight, Vicky."

"Goodnight... Twerp? Uh... Timmy! Goodnight, Timmy!" she leaned up and planted a kiss on his cheek, then laid her head back down and quickly fell asleep.

"Well, if I do end up dead tomorrow, I'd say it'll be worth it, after that. Heh... Vicky's a lightweight..." he reached up and grabbed her hand, lacing his fingers with hers, and shortly after, fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Tootie sat alone in her room, contemplating her next move, today had gone surprisingly well, Timmy hadn't rebuffed her affections nearly as much as he usually did. She did however, realize that she was still pouring it on a little too strongly, wrapping her arms around him, the sudden hand-holding, she felt she might be going about it wrong.

"_He seems to really like Trixie, but all she does is ignore him... maybe if I try her tactics I'll see a different result?" "But bringing yourself to be mean, or at the very least, ignore him? You sure you're up to that?" "I have to do something... What if he eventually wins Trixie over?"_

It seemed that conflicting thoughts ran in the family.

"Maybe... maybe that'll work... but first..." Tootie stood and walked over to her closet, she opened it and brought the trash bin over. "This has gotta go..." the shrine to Timmy that had stood in her closet for so long stared back at her. She hesitated, she didn't want to get rid of all of it but... it was getting ridiculous, Timmy thought she was crazy, if he ever discovered it, then his suspicions would just be confirmed. She began throwing out everything, the pictures, locks of hair, clothing that he had outgrown, everything. She stopped when she found a picture that had been taken last year, it was of her, him, Chester and AJ, he had stood next to her when it was taken, for once their closeness didn't seem to bother him. She would keep this one, it was one of the few that she hadn't taken in secret, and it was normal, everyone was in it, though she only cared about him.

After she felt that her closet and room were sufficiently clear of Timmy paraphernalia, she took the photo she kept and put it in a picture frame by her bed. "There, not crazy!" she felt her eye twitching slightly from the sudden overhaul, but it would pass, hopefully.

_Meanwhile..._

Veronica searched the mall, she wanted to talk to Timmy, though she was already far too late, it was nine-fifteen, Timmy had already left a few hours ago with Vicky. Still she walked through the mall, hoping against hope that he would still be around. Veronica didn't bother to notice the fact that less and less people were in the mall, nor the fact that most stores were closed and it was getting quite dark. "Guess I should head home..." she made her way to the mall's main entrance and tried pushing the door, to no avail, then tried pulling it, with the same effect. "Don't tell me I'm locked in..."

"You're locked in." Veronica spun around in surprise to find Wolfe staring at her, still smoking a cigarette.

"Don't do that! Scared the hell out of me... Isn't it illegal to smoke in places like this?"

"Good question." he took another drag.

"Why are you still here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I'm locked in, I was looking for Timmy so I could talk to him about... y'know."

"He left shortly after you talked to Vicky, went home I'm guessing."

"How do you know I talked to her?"

Wolfe pointed to his badge. "Chief of Mall Security, at your service."

"Alright, so why are you still here?"

"I live here."

"I know it's your job and you probably spend a lot of your time here, but why are you still here, seriously?"

"Seriously, I live here." Wolfe dropped the cigarette and stomped it out.

"Oh... you're serious? Why?"

"Because I can. I don't have to pay rent, I have everything I need in an apartment, I'm never wanting for food, sounds like a good deal to me."

"But you live in a mall, how can you...?"

"Probably hard for someone who has everything handed to them to understand."

"I haven't had things handed to me all my life..."

"Really? Well please, go ahead, tell me your problems, I'm listening."

"I..." What could she say? Her parents were rich, and she was never wanting for anything, they provided for her whatever she asked, they didn't neglect or ignore her, they were really great parents, unheard of for someone with rich parents, everyone else at the popular table complained at one point or another about their parents not caring about them, or buying them things but ignoring their feelings, even Trixie mentioned it once or twice, not very often though, she wanted to appear perfect at all times. "I guess life hasn't been all that hard... but it isn't easy being mean, plus I have to keep up this horrible California girl accent, I don't even feel like demonstrating..."

"Do you know why you insist on being mean?"

"It's just how things are, you wouldn't understand... If I don't act the way they do, they'll cast me out, I can't associate with poor or unpopular kids, I can't sympathize with them, and I certainly can't disagree with the others, especially Trixie, she's the little princess, and her word is basically law..."

"Yet Timmy has friends, and is unpopular, and is nice to people."

"I know, he's great..." Veronica began to drift off to her dreamworld again.

"Veronica? Hey! Wake up!"

"Oh! Sorry... you mentioned Timmy so I drifted off there."

Wolfe pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know you think you like him, but you don't, it's just a stupid middle school crush..."

"We're in high school..."

"Whatever, the point is that it's a crush, it'll pass, and you'll move on, hopefully to someone who actually cares about you. Just because Timmy remembered your name, it doesn't mean he likes you..."

"I really don't want to hear this, if Timmy really feels that way, he can tell me himself. You mind opening the door so I can head home now?"

"Yeah, I do. If I open that door, the alarm will go off, and the police will show up, I'll have to explain myself to the owners of the mall, maybe have to kill someone, I just ain't got that kinda time."

"So I'm stuck here for the night?"

"Yep."

"And I can't leave?"

"Nope."

"But you have the keys?"

Wolfe held up a large keyring with nearly a hundred keys on it. "You're lucky, sometimes bad things happen in this mall... _really_ bad things."

"Like?"

"Trust me, you're better off not knowing."

"Have you seen these... things?"

"I do live here, I'm fairly certain they happen _because_ I'm here. To be honest, I was worried that you being here would cause it to happen but..." Wolfe checked his watch. "Nah, should be fine tonight."

"What are we gonna do til then?"

"You mean what are _you _gonna do? I'm gonna go get my coffee."

"I thought everything was closed?"

"Well... almost. My favorite coffee shop only opens at night, they stay open all night, but only serve customers for a few hours, then the mall closes and they serve only me." he looked at Veronica. "And my guests, I suppose."

"Do they know about... that?"

"Well of course, how could they not?"

"But you said it was dangerous?"

"It is, only one person works there at these hours, she can handle herself."

Veronica followed Wolfe through the fairly dark mall until he stopped in front of a lit up shop. She looked up at the sign. "'The Coffee Shop'? Seriously? If they're trying to be inconspicuous, they're not doing a very good job, the name itself seems suspicious."

"Nobody has ever questioned it, and the name wasn't taken, at least, that's what I was told."

Upon entering, Veronica noticed a blonde girl leaning behind the counter, she wore a visor on her head and an apron over an orange sleeveless shirt and olive green jeans, she leaned her elbow on the counter, her head resting in her hand. She was reading some magazine. She spoke without looking up from her magazine.

"Wolfe."

"Heather."

"Your coffee." she gestured to a still steaming cup of coffee on the counter. "Who's your friend?"

"Late night shopper, she didn't realize the mall closes early today." he grabbed the coffee and took a sip. "Great as always, thanks Heather."

"Flattery doesn't work on me. Why is she here? You should've locked her up somewhere safe..."

"It's not happening tonight, she'll be fine."

"_Who is this girl? What exactly is going on at the mall during the night?"_ Veronica thought to herself.

"If you say so." she turned another page in her magazine.

"What's wrong? You sound disappointed, were you hoping for more action tonight?"

"You kinda get used to it, I mean, I could go anywhere else, but I stayed here, where _that_ happens, I don't know if you cause it or if it's me, but it happens, and I'm beginning to enjoy it..."

"You worry too much, nothing wrong with liking to do what you're good at..."

"Yes there is. When you start to like the things that I do, it changes you, you become just like them, and if you accept that, there's no going back, and that town will never release you."

"Town?" Veronica spoke up.

"Nothing, Heather misspoke, you really don't wanna know..."

"I don't like all these secrets, this sounds pretty heavy..."

"Drop it." Heather spoke now, and the bored sounding voice was gone, this was more... dangerous.

"Veronica, I think it would be best if you got some rest, follow me." Wolfe led her to a mattress and bed store in the mall, unlocked the door and lifted the gate. "Just pick a bed and fall in, I'll wake you up when it's time to go."

"Thanks, I guess?"

"Yep. Think about what I said, okay? You don't know for sure if Timmy likes you, and forced love is not lasting love, if you try to make him love you, it'll only end in heartache."

"I'll be the judge of that, thanks."

"That defiance just might help you out..." he walked off into the darkness.

"This place is frickin' creepy at night..." Veronica laid down on one of the larger mattresses and fell asleep after a few minutes.

_The next morning..._

Vicky awoke with a splitting headache. "Oh... I guess I shouldn't drink... like, at all..."

"Yeah, probably a good idea."

Vicky looked up slightly to realize she was still using Timmy's shoulder as a pillow. "Oh God, please tell me we didn't do it."

"Do... what?" _"What is she talking about...? Oh!" _"No! I just brought you here because you were being difficult! I wouldn't take advantage of you..."

"What do you mean, difficult?" the anger in her voice was rising dangerously.

"Well when I found you in the kitchen last night, you were... pretty wasted, I cleaned up and tried to get you to lie down on the couch, but you said something about a couch not being fit for a princess, so then I brought you to my parents room, but they locked the door, leaving just my room, so rather than upset you, I brought you in here. I was gonna sleep on the couch downstairs but..."

"But?" if looks could kill, Timmy would likely have died on the spot, but they couldn't and she didn't have that effect on him anymore.

"But... you said that you wanted me to stay, I didn't want you to cry, so I did... but nothing happened! Really!"

"Cry?"

"Uh... you got kind of... emotional last night."

"What?!"

"I'm just telling you what I saw! You got really emotional when I tried to leave you, so... I kinda slept with you so you wouldn't cry... not like that though!"

Vicky laid in the bed for several minutes, trying to piece together last night's events, she remembered most of it, but it was somewhat blurry. "Ugh... my head hurts just trying to remember..." Vicky got out of the bed and began to walk away when she felt resistance from her hand. She looked to find he was still holding it. "My hand, please?"

Timmy reluctantly released her hand.

"I should kill you, I'm really tempted to, but I'll give you a reprieve for taking care of me while I was... not myself, and for not taking advantage of the situation." _"And because I remember the promise I made last night..."_ Vicky left Timmy's room and shut the door.

"Well... at least I'm not dead."

Vicky walked downstairs and sat down on the couch, the war of her thoughts had been re-ignited. _"What are you doing?! He nearly took advantage of you when you were indisposed! Go back up there and kill him!" "Forget taking advantage of his feelings, he waited til you were weak, then got you into bed with him!" _Tempting as it was to listen to the two dominant voices, she listened to the third instead, the one that was slowly becoming more dominant. _"He could've taken advantage, but he didn't, he watched out for you when anyone else would've left OR taken advantage of you. What does that say about him?" "That he's really dedicated to this ruse?" "Or... that he really _does_ care..."_

Vicky sighed loudly. "What am I gonna do?"

"About what?" Timmy was suddenly on the stairs.

"Nothing... what do you want?"

"I'm heading out with Tootie and the guys, they just called. Just thought I'd let you know."

"Forgive me for not joining you."

"I kinda figured you wouldn't. Are you alright?"

"Hunky Dory. Why?"

"You still think this is a game, don't you?"

"I don't know what I think anymore, what I thought I knew about our interactions and relationship has been turned on its head." Vicky laid down on the couch and turned away from Timmy. "I'll see you later."

"Alright... no more drinking!"

Vicky laughed slightly at this. "No promises..."

Timmy arrived at the mall and found his friends in the food court as usual. "Everytime I come here you guys are eating..."

"You got something against food?!" Chester was stuffing his face with a burger nearly as big as his head. After passing into his teenage years, Chester had become the 'stoner' friend, this didn't bother the others too much, it really helped him become less paranoid.

"So, how are things at your house? I heard Vicky's babysitting you all weekend. Sounds rough."

"About as bad as you'd expect, she has me doing all kinds of chores as usual, the only reason I escaped is because I got up before she did."

"Oof... Sorry to hear that. Well just think, two more days and you're parents are back."

"Let's hope I survive that long..." Timmy noticed that Tootie had made no attempts at hugging, kissing, or even talking to him. "Tootie? Everything alright?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah... everything's fine."

"_Which confirms everything is _not_ fine... What could it be? I hope she doesn't suspect anything... Did I let something slip that might suggest I like Vicky? I don't think I did but... She's acting different..." _"If you say so..."

"So Timmy, Trixie's here again today, wanna try your luck again?"

"No, not really."

"C'mon, third time's the charm!"

"I haven't even tried twice yet!"

"But you gotta work toward number three, so you might as well try today."

"You gonna laugh again?"

"Probably."

"Well since I _live_ to entertain you guys..." Timmy stood up and walked over to the popular kids table again. Timmy sighed before he spoke. "Hey Trixie, don't suppose you wanna-"

"Security!" the large man appeared and reached for Timmy.

"Alright, alright! I'm going!" he quickly scurried away and back to his own table. "Happy?"

"It wasn't as funny since he didn't throw you, but, eh."

"So the prospect of me getting hurt is funny?"

"Hmm... when you put it like that, I guess so."

"I'm starting to think that maybe I don't have a chance with Trixie..."

"Ah, don't let it get you down, persistence is key, though it might help to prove you're rich..."

"So what? You think I'll have a chance with her if I show off how much money I have?"

"Couldn't hurt."

"I'll think about it, I want her to like me for me, not my money."

"That's not gonna happen, they all respect money, Trixie especially. If you want her affection, you'll have to show how much money you have and it may help to act kinda douchey too."

"I dunno about that, I'm not really willing to be an ass to people to get a girl's affections..."

"Do you really like Trixie? It doesn't really seem like you do at times, almost like you're faking it to cover up for liking someone else..."

Tootie glanced over at this remark, though she kept the bored look on her face.

Timmy, on the other hand, was becoming just slightly worried. _"This is the problem with having a smart and attentive friend, now AJ suspects something..."_ "Why? Because I don't want to compromise my principles? I shouldn't have to be mean like them to get her attention, that's all..."

"I don't know... somehow I think that a few years back, you wouldn't hesitate to abandon us in favor of Trixie, no offense."

"You must not have a very high opinion of me."

"No! It's not like that, I just... nevermind, forget I said anything."

"Look, I like Trixie, but if I have to be like them to get her attention, to pretend to be someone I'm not, well, I won't, you can't have a relationship that is built on fake feelings." _"Hopefully this convinces them enough..."_

"Are you really our friend Timmy? You don't act like him..."

"Very funny."

Chester spoke up suddenly. "Uh, guys... I'm coming down, gonna go to the bathroom and... y'know." he made a gesture to suggest he was smoking really quick.

"Yeah, go ahead, we'll be here."

"I'm... gonna go to the bathroom..." AJ quickly followed after Chester.

Timmy glanced over at Tootie and she at him before both broke into fits of giggles. "Who does AJ think he's fooling?"

"I don't know... when did he even start smoking with Chester?"

"Must've been recently, that or we just never noticed it..."

"You don't think they're...?" Tootie poked her index fingers into each other.

"What? Oh. Oh! No, I don't think so, there's no undertones to suggest they like each other like..._ that_."

"Not even how often they go to the bathroom together? Or the fact that they spend way more time together than with me or you?"

"Are you about to drop the bomb on me that you're a yaoi fangirl? Cuz if you are, do me a favor and don't fantasize about me... or at least don't tell me you do."

"No! Of course not! I just think their behavior is a little suspicious..."

"Pfft, they're just potheads."

"You're probably right..."

"So what's up?"

"Hm?"

"You can't fool me, Tootie. You've been acting different since I got here, towards me, specifically. So what's the matter?"

"Nothing, like I said!"

"And I know that tone means something."

"No... I just..." Tootie looked around for several seconds, then spoke again. "Did you hear that? I think I heard Vicky calling me! Gotta go!"

"But Vicky's at-" but Tootie had already sped off. "my... house."

Timmy now sat alone at the table. "Why are all my friends so... weird?"

"I dunno, maybe you're good at attracting weird friends?"

"Heh, yeah I-" Veronica now sat at the table next to him. "Fuck! Don't... do that... I have a weak heart..."

"So... how ya doing?"

"Do you hang out with Tootie sometimes? You're both really good at sneaking up on me..."

"Her? No. Definitely not, she's a nerd and really unpopular, I wouldn't be caught dead talking to her."

"So why are you talking to me? I am friends with her, and I am pretty unpopular..." _"God... I know what this is about..."_

"So things aren't going well with Trixie, huh?"

"Not really... are you okay? You're hair seems... disheveled..."

"Oh, I just didn't have time to make it look good this morning, I kinda rushed out of the house, it certainly isn't messy because I slept in the mall, heheh, definitely not that."

"Okay..."

"Have I ever told you how cute you are?"

"_Fan-friggin'-tastic." _"No, I would've remembered that. Why the sudden outpouring of affection?"

"I want to be more open about how I feel. I really like you, like _really_ like you."

"I'm kinda trying to woo Trixie..."

"Oh, stop. I know that isn't true, you wanted to get to me, that's why you approached Trixie, you were too afraid to come straight for me, but that's alright..." Veronica moved closer to Timmy, her eyes were half lidded.

Timmy looked over to the popular kids' table to see that they had all left at some point. _"Crap. The one time I need the spoiled brats, and they aren't around... I really wish there was someone here to help me..."_

"Timmy! Oh, good thing you're still here, I forgot my purse!" Tootie grabbed her purse and looked Timmy and Veronica over. "Am I... interrupting?"

"_Figures, it had to be Tootie... well, time to take advantage of a bad situation..."_ "Tootie, why'd you run off? I can't very well take you out on a date if you run away! Veronica, you were right, I don't have a crush on Trixie, but I don't have a crush on you either... sorry I might have made you think otherwise. I kinda lied in order to keep my friends from finding out that I have a crush on Tootie. The lie has grown out of proportion a little... but now you know." he grabbed Tootie's hand and laced his fingers together with hers.

"Timmy what're you-"

Timmy looked at Tootie. "Hm? Something wrong?" he winked at Tootie as he spoke.

"Um... no-nothing."

"Veronica, I'm really sorry you thought that... well you know..."

"Oh... I uh... don't- don't worry about it, just a simple mistake, I'm happy for you, really! I didn't know you were on a date, go have fun!"

"Alright, I'll... see you in school then?"

"Hm? Yeah sure, see you around."

Timmy quickly walked off with Tootie, who seemed to be deeply confused by the day's events. "Timmy? What's going on?"

"Veronica thought I had a crush on her, and it seems she was about to act on the assumed feelings. Thanks for showing up by the way."

"I just wanted to get my purse..."

"Well, you saved my ass back there, so whatever the reason, thank you."

"Any time? Where are we going anyway?"

"Away from her, she's nuts."

They ducked into the video game store that he had bought his game from the day before. "Alright, I think we lost her for now... maybe she'll even stop following me now..." Timmy tried to pull his hand away and realized Tootie wasn't letting go. "Um... can I get my hand back?"

"No, I kinda like holding your hand..." Tootie was looking off into space again.

"_Well, this feels familiar..." _"Tootie... the guys might see us..."

"Well, I could always go tell Veronica that you do like her back, and that you were just lying cause you were embarrassed, that'll go over well, don't ya think?"

"You remind me of your sister sometimes, you know that?"

"Come on! We're friends! It's not like there's anything wrong with friends hanging out together!"

"No, but 'friends' don't hold hands and walk through stores together, or get all dreamy eyed in each others' presence, or attempt to molest each other, or force each other into liking the other."

"You should've thought of that before you told Veronica we were on a date, and that you have a crush on me, now we have to keep this up for as long as she might be around, that includes when Chester and AJ are around."

"In hindsight, that probably wasn't a good idea, but can you blame me? I was desperate, she just won't take a hint..."

Tootie ignored the fact that her and Veronica were beginning to sound more and more alike. "Oh well, you _know_ I like you, so you're just gonna have to play along for now..."

"I never asked for this..."

"You kinda did..."

"Well, where do you want to go? We already ate, so..."

"I dunno, let's just see where the day takes us!"

Tootie led Timmy around to several stores in the mall, clothing stores, shoe stores, nearly anything that caught her eye, she was obviously just trying to spend as much time on this fake date as possible, there was no way for her to know that the day's events would turn out in her favor, but she was going to take advantage of it for as long as she could. They had stopped in a jewelery store now, Tootie had stopped over by the engagement ring section and had released Timmy's hand, so he quickly moved away, but stopped at the necklaces. He eyed a pink teardrop shaped crystal on a silver chain, it brought a sense of nostalgia to him that he couldn't explain, he considered purchasing it, but thought better upon seeing the price tag. _"Maybe if I hadn't bought Vicky lunch yesterday, but I think it would be wiser to save up for something like that." _He had the money, but if he bought it, he would only have around five bucks left to him. _"Not to mention Tootie will think I'm getting it for her..."_ As if on cue, Tootie appeared next to him.

"Oh, that's really pretty! You thinking about buying it for someone special?" she elbowed him a few times, obviously suggesting herself.

"Pink doesn't really suit you, I think blue, or maybe... purple would fit better. Also... why are you looking at engagement rings?"

"No reason..." Tootie twiddled her thumbs nervously.

"Right... you about ready to head out?"

"I guess..." Tootie had a downcast expression on her face.

"Y'know..." Timmy reached for Tootie's hand and grabbed it. "I'll admit I didn't... hate spending time with you..."

"Really?" her expression changed from downcast to hopeful.

"Really. When you're... normal, like this, I kinda enjoy being around you. I'm just wary around you now, all those times you acted like... well, you, they're kinda hard to overlook..."

"I'm sorry... I just really like you, and I'm not really sure how to show it, without acting..."

"Crazy?"

"I was gonna say something nicer, but yeah..."

"You mentioned the other day that Vicky isn't that mean, what was that about?"

"She really isn't, I know that you and the guys think she's horrible, but that's really just an act, I don't know why she puts it up, maybe because our parents aren't too great when it comes to taking care of us, but she isn't bad at all around me, we get along great. I probably shouldn't even be telling you this... Why the sudden interest?"

"I just want to have a normal relationship with you and your sister, you know like friends... but she can be really difficult at times, the torture, the yelling, blaming me for things I didn't do, it seems like I get it worse than others..."

"She hasn't mentioned anything... in fact, she rarely mentions her job at home. Far as I know, she doesn't dislike you anymore than the other kids she babysits..."

"She seems... distrustful... towards me. I've tried being nice, y'know, tried to be friends with her like I did you, and she seems to think it's a trick of some sort, that I wanna get back at her for how mean she has been."

"Hmm... well, like I said, our parents haven't been there for her or me very much, if you can't trust and rely on your parents, who can you trust? And then there's her ex-boyfriends, all of them dumped her, and she really did care about them, so really, you can't blame her for being wary... I wouldn't want to get hurt again, if the roles were reversed..."

"Well, at least I understand her a bit better now..."

"I could talk to her... try to get her to understand..."

"No that's alright, she already thinks that we're working together to shame her, I don't want to give her any evidence that she'll feel will confirm that theory."

"She really thinks that?"

"That's what she told me."

"Ugh... she's paranoid..."

"That's what I said..."

"We should probably head back... Chester and AJ are gonna wonder where we went, if they aren't too high to string their thoughts together... Even if it was a fake date..." Tootie hugged Timmy. "I had a nice time, thanks."

"Yeah... me... me too." Timmy returned the hug, much to his surprise. _"Oh no... you really are starting to like her, aren't you?" _he hoped that wasn't the case, but he was beginning to feel something for his friend, something that felt oddly similar to what he felt for Vicky.

_Meanwhile, back at the food court..._

Chester and AJ returned to the table they had left Timmy and Tootie at. They were no longer there, but Veronica was, she seemed to be deep in thought. "Uh... hey... Veronica? Have you seen Timmy or Tootie?"

"No. Go away."

"Oh... alright..." Chester and AJ stumbled out of the food court and deeper into the mall.

"Huh... are those two high?"

"What do you want now?!" Veronica was speaking to Wolfe.

"Well I _do_ work and live here..."

"Yet of all the people you could bother, you choose to bother me."

Wolfe took a drag off his cigarette and sat down across from Veronica. "So, what's bothering you?"

"Timmy."

"How so?"

"I came over here to tell him how I felt, and he told me it was a ruse to fool his friends, Trixie, and me, he really likes Tootie."

"Oh?" _"Unfortunate that you're wrong again..."_

"Yeah, he told me all about it, you were right, so if you wanna rub it in my face, now's the time."

"As much fun as that sounds, I'll pass. Maybe now would be a good time to try being the real you?"

"What? Being _nice_?"

"Couldn't hurt."

"Only my pride..."

"You'll get over it. In the meantime, you hungry?"

"Why are you offering to buy me food?"

"Well, I kinda feel bad since I was right, so I'm trying to be uncharacteristically nice."

"Better than being alone..."


	5. Chapter 5

Wolfe and Veronica sat in the food court in silence.

"_Good thing I'm the chief of security, I'd rather not have to explain this situation to anyone..."_

"So... thanks for waking me up..."

"No problem, I thought about letting you sleep, but I figured you would have been embarrassed to wake up in the mall with people just looking at you like you were some crazy homeless person, though you could've gone home and changed..."

"I needed to talk to him, I wanted to know if you were right, that he really didn't care about me... He does care, just not in the way that I hoped..."

"That's life, it isn't usually fair, and it can be hard..."

"What about you? You seem to speak from personal experience, did you care for someone who didn't return your feelings?"

"Hah! No, nothing like that. My job tends to keep women away, along with... what I told you about late nights here at the mall..."

"And Heather?"

"Nah, she's an acquaintance, nothing more. Not to mention, she's twenty, I'm thirty-five."

"You don't believe that age is just a number?"

"We aren't here so that you can play matchmaker for me, Veronica, we're here to get you out of this slump, how many times have you been rejected, honestly?"

"Just the one."

"Exactly, you'll be fine, I'm sure that there will be some guy who will come along and make you happy."

"What about you?"

"No I don't think I'm the guy for you."

"That-that's not what I meant! I meant-! ...Do you think you'll find someone? You can say that I'll find someone all you want, but do you think you're own idea is true for yourself?"

"No. Some people don't deserve love, or aren't meant to find it, there isn't anything that can be done about that, I know that it won't happen for me."

"How do you know?"

"I just do. But just because I'll be alone, doesn't mean you will."

"Seems like a lonely existence..."

"It's how I prefer things, it's why I have few friends, and I hope you don't ever get locked in again, you don't wanna learn about what I've seen, nor what Heather's seen."

"You still haven't told me what that's all about..."

"I'm not going to either, some things are better left unsaid and unknown."

"Ugh... fine, I won't bring it up again, alright?"

"Better off that way. What're you gonna do now? Continue on being rich and popular, or trying something else?"

"Something else?"

"You could try to be friends with Timmy."

"I don't think that's a good idea... he probably thinks I'm crazy... Not to mention he has a thing going on with Tootie..."

"_Great, now I have to ask him about that as well..." _"So that's who he really liked, huh?"

"Apparently, the two of them are on a date around here somewhere..."

Wolfe put his head in his hand and rubbed his forehead.

"Something the matter?"

"Just a headache, it'll pass. You want a ride home?"

"I guess... don't you have to stay here and keep an eye on things?"

"Nope, today's my day off."

"Lead the way then. And don't try anything, I still don't completely trust you, no offense, but you kinda look like the type who would kill someone and wear their skin..."

"I don't think your skin would fit on me." Wolfe stood and began walking out of the food court, Veronica, after several seconds of hesitation, followed him out.

After several minutes of silence as they walked through the mall, Veronica spoke up. "Why are you being nice to me and helping me? I thought you didn't like... kids."

"I don't like kids, or teenagers, or young adults, or people in general for that matter, but I'm not heartless, I'll help out people now and then. You aren't a bad person, Veronica, just a normal girl who had a crush and got shot down, and while I can't exactly sympathize, having never been put into such a situation, I'm sure there's a good person in there, you just have to be willing to leave your comfort zone."

"What are you suggesting exactly?"

"Go home, think about what I said, and then talk to Timmy tomorrow or on Monday, you might be surprised."

"Or I might be disappointed..."

"I don't think so, he's a good kid, he wouldn't intentionally hurt anyone... I think." Wolfe rubbed at his forehead again and sniffed the air. "Do you smell... copper?"

Veronica sniffed a few times. "No... just smells like a mall... I guess."

"Don't come back to the mall today, and especially tonight."

"_That_ again?"

Wolfe didn't answer, he simply continued walking out of the mall and stopped outside next to a black four door car. "C'mon, let's go." Veronica got into the car and buckled the seatbelt. She sat for almost a minute before Wolfe spoke up. "I don't exactly know where you live..."

"Oh! Right, sorry. Not far from Dimmsdale High School."

_Back in the Mall..._

Timmy and Tootie were making their way back to the food court when they ran into Chester and AJ, who both looked much more laid back than the last time they saw them.

"Hey Timmy, Tootie, when did you leave the table?"

"Shortly after we finished eating... Tootie wanted to go look around, and I went with her, did you guys eat?"

Chester smacked AJ's arm at this comment. "Dude! You were supposed to remind me about the food!"

"What food?"

"The food we ordered! We left it when we went to the bathroom!"

"Ohhh... that food. Oh well, I'll just get more later, I've got like... a lot of money..."

"Oh yeah... nevermind then, it's cool."

Timmy and Tootie glanced at each other and began slowly backing away.

"Oh! I just remembered, we saw Veronica at the table, she seemed really mad about something, but I was too out of it to get into it, I think I still am..."

"Did she say anything to you guys?"

"All she said was 'Go Away' she seemed all angry and stuff, what a drag..."

"_Dealing with these two when they're like this is impossible..." _Timmy whispered to Tootie now. "Let's get out of here..."

"How? They're gonna get suspicious if we just ditch them..." Tootie whispered back.

"Nah, they're too high, they can't put together any coherent thoughts right now, just be ready to run when I give the signal..."

"Okay..."

"Holy Crap! Look at the size of that cheeseburger over there!" Timmy pointed to an empty table behind Chester and AJ. They spun around quickly and lunged in the direction he pointed, an animalistic hunger in their eyes.

Timmy grabbed Tootie's hand and yanked her with him as he began sprinting in the opposite direction. Tootie released a scream of surprise as she was pulled along. She got a look at Chester and AJ chewing on the table that Timmy pointed at. _"No way they just smoked weed, weed couldn't possibly do that, they must've done something else..."_

They ran for several minutes before Timmy turned a corner that led into a hallway used as an emergency exit and stopped to catch his breath. "I think... that'll be... sufficient."

"Why... did you... wanna run?"

"I'm not really a big fan of hanging around them when they're like that... are you? Not to mention, they talked to Veronica, who knows what she said to them, for all we know, they think we're together..."

"Well... we are holding hands a lot lately..." she rested her head on Timmy's shoulder.

"You initiated most of them... I just followed along."

Tootie raised her hand that still held his. "Not this time."

"I could've left you."

"But you wouldn't have, you know that."

"Yeah... too bad that isn't a good thing..."

"Why do you say that?"

"I think I'm starting to like you..."

"Really?! What- What changed?"

"I don't really know, I guess when we spend time together as friends, I enjoy being around you more. To be honest, I was kinda worried earlier today when you weren't talking to me or acting like well, you. I thought you were mad at me for something..."

"Uh... honestly, I was trying to get you to notice me by ignoring you, like Trixie does..."

"Well... it kinda worked, but I don't really like Trixie, she's just a spoiled brat. Or Veronica for that matter, but I think I proved that earlier."

"Who do you like then? I know you said you like me, or at least, you're starting to, but...?"

Timmy sighed loudly. "It's complicated..."

"How so?"

"Because, while I _do_ like you, I like someone else too..."

"Oh..."

"Yeah..." Timmy looked at the floor now, he hadn't meant to divulge so much to Tootie, but if she was a part of this, then she deserved to know.

"You wanna talk about it, or...?"

"Not really. If you knew... well, you don't wanna know."

"Why? Who could it possibly be that would bother me? You already confirmed it isn't Trixie or Veronica, which really slims down the possibilities..."

"Not to change the subject, but I'm gonna change the subject. Did you get the new Crash Nebula game?"

"No I-"

"Aw jeez, look at the time! Well it's been great Tootie, gotta go!" he moved to run away, but Tootie caught his hand and yanked him back.

"Not so fast!" Timmy now stood in front of Tootie, looking directly into her eyes.

"_Huh. Her eyes are a pretty purple color... why haven't I ever noticed that?" _"Yeah?" she pulled him back to her, but now seemed unsure.

"_Shoot! I didn't think I'd catch him... now what do I do?" _"You uh... you have really nice eyes..."

"Thank you...? _"That's kinda weird..."_

Tootie suddenly leaned forward and kissed Timmy on his cheek. She was blushing bright red as she quickly moved past him and ran deeper into the mall. "Bye Timmy!" she yelled over her shoulder.

Timmy raised his hand up to his cheek and felt the spot Tootie kissed, then groaned. "I must be cursed... that, or I was horribly cruel to puppies in a previous life, and this is karmic retribution..." Timmy decided that he had had enough of the mall today, and there was an unmistakeable coppery smell in his nose, though he couldn't place its origin, it was beginning to fill him with unease. So he headed out of the mall and waited for the bus.

_Also meanwhile, back at the Turner house..._

Vicky had yet to move from the couch where she laid down earlier in the day, aside from the occasional shift in position to get more comfortable, though at least six hours had passed, maybe more. "Ugh... I really should've taken something for the headache..." though it had nearly passed, she occasionally felt a dull ache. This would only be exacerbated by her phone ringing.

"Hello?" she tried to rub the ache from her forehead, to no avail.

"Vicky! He likes me! He really likes me!"

"Tootie, I have a splitting headache, if you don't calm down, I'm gonna reach through this damn phone and strangle you."

"Oh! Sorry... but he likes me!"

"_Who_ likes you?!"

"Timmy! He told me himself while we were at the mall! And we even went on a date... well, kind of, we went around looking at the shops... but he bought me lunch... well I bought me lunch... but he sat with me at lunch! Although Chester and AJ were there too..."

"Was he coherent during all this?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean did you drug or hypnotize him so he would spend time with you? From what I've heard, _you_ usually try to woo and impress him, not the other way around..."

"Well... Veronica was there... she tried to confess her feelings... but he said he didn't like her, and told her that he had a crush on me, that we were on a date!"

Vicky pinched the bridge of her nose. "That didn't seem... odd to you? Like maybe he used you to get away from Veronica?"

"Well... it seemed odd at first, but then we spent most of the day together, and we even stopped at a jewelery store, he was eying a pendant, I'm sure he wanted to get it for me."

"Anything else?"

"He told me himself that he likes me! We held hands for most of the day, then he told me he likes me, and he kissed me!"

"Why do I somehow doubt the veracity of your claim?"

"Alright fine, you always were able to tell when I lied... he didn't kiss me, I kissed him, on the cheek. But he did say that he likes me... and... someone else..." the last few words were squeaked out.

"_Oh no... I should've known, this is a game to him! It's not enough to play with my feelings, he has to play with Tootie's too?!" "What if this is just another elaborate trick, and Tootie is in on it?" "I thought he really cared about me..." _"Don't suppose he told you who the other person is, did he?"

"No, but I'm not worried."

"Huh?"

"I kissed him, and I've been trying to get him to notice me all this time, I think I have this in the bag, this other girl doesn't stand a chance!"

The third voice in Vicky's head spoke up now, with renewed passion and fire. _"You think that the other girl doesn't stand a chance?! You think you have this in the bag?! Oh... you're in for a run for your money if you think that!" _The other two voices were drowned out by the third, and even Vicky was surprised by her own thoughts this time. "I don't know Tootie, maybe he was just telling you what you wanted to hear?"

"Nope! I know how he feels now, I just need to prove that I'm better than this other hussy, whoever she is..."

"_Hussy?!"_ "Tootie, you don't even know this girl, how can you call her a hussy? She might be really nice, it could even be someone you know..."

"I don't know anyone else, other than Veronica, who has a crush on Timmy, and he didn't return her feelings, so I couldn't possibly know her. Hell, the only other girl he knows is you, and that's just crazy!" Tootie began laughing to herself on the other end of the phone.

Vicky could feel intense rage bubbling over, and she now struggled to keep it under control. "Yeah... crazy."

"Well, I'll leave you alone Vicky, you sound like you need some rest. I just needed to share the good news with someone... I'm just so excited! Talk to you later, bye!"

Tootie hung up and left Vicky staring at the phone. "Well see how chipper you are when your bubble gets burst!" She threw her phone across the living room in anger, it ricocheted off the TV screen, then hit the wall, then landed on the floor, causing it to, despite being made of relatively tough wood, crack. Vicky walked over to her phone to find it didn't have so much as a scratch on it, more than she could say for the cracked TV screen, shattered drywall, and cracked floor. "Huh. So that's why they say Nokia phones are indestructible..."

Vicky walked into the kitchen, her headache had returned in full force, and she desperately wanted some relief. She eyed the liquor cabinet first, then thought better of it. "Don't want a repeat performance of last night..." Instead, she went over to the medicine cabinet and grabbed a prescription bottle marked 'pain relief'. "Sure." she grabbed a couple and took them with a glass of water. "These better not be sugar pills..."

After several minutes, she felt her headache begin to subside and breathed a sigh of relief. Then her phone rang again. "What the Hell?!" she sprinted over to her phone and picked it up. _"What_?!"

"Alright, so like, I was at the mall today and like-"

"Drop the accent, I'm not one of those preppy jackasses..."

"Oh, right. Sorry, force of habit, they're the only people I call..."

"What do you want, Veronica?"

"Your 'charge' turned me down... apparently he likes some nerdy girl named Tootie or something..."

"You don't know that I know Tootie do you?"

"No, I really don't know much about you, we only became friends yesterday..."

"Tootie's my little sister."

There were several seconds of silence before Veronica spoke up. "Oh... sorry about... what I said..."

"To be fair, my sister is a nerd. But back to what we were saying, he doesn't like you, like you like him, huh?"

"...No... I had a feeling deep down that he didn't, but I didn't want to think about it..."

"*sigh* Look, I know being alone can be hard, but you'll be fine, I've been alone for a while now, I tend to scare away my boyfriends with my personality, but there are plenty of great guys out there. You may think that Timmy is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but trust me, he isn't, nobody is, everyone has flaws, you just have to be willing to accept them for who they are, might help to try being nicer to people too..."

"Meh... that's what Wolfe said..."

"The chief of security?"

"Yeah, he was the one who first told me that I didn't have a chance with Timmy, but I didn't listen... Wish I had known he was right all along, Trixie saw me today... she's likely telling everyone to start treating me like an outcast as we speak."

"If you're looking for a good friend in me, you're looking in the wrong place, the rumors about me being evil aren't unfounded..."

"Hah! That mean girl act doesn't fool me. If you were really so horrible, you wouldn't have given me your number yesterday, or let me hug you, or be having this conversation now..."

"Don't tell anyone."

Vicky heard Veronica giggling on the other end of the line. "Don't worry, I won't. I don't really have anyone to tell now anyway..."

"Well, if you ever want to... talk, I guess I wouldn't mind sparing a few minutes for you..."

"Thanks Vicky. You wouldn't happen to know if... Timmy would want to be... just friends... with me, I mean?"

"I wouldn't, if you really want to be friends with him, I'd approach him yourself, but I'll drop a hint to him."

"Thank you, Vicky. You're not as bad as everyone says you are."

Vicky hung up the phone, she was getting dangerously close to her niceness quota for the year. At least, that's what she told herself. She began to rub at her forehead once more, trying to will the last vestiges of the headache away when she heard the front door open. Timmy walked into the kitchen to find Vicky staring at him, looking none too pleased.

"Hey... how was your day?" He sounded exhausted and... something else... upset maybe?

"We need to talk."

Timmy now realized that she didn't seem happy, though that wasn't odd for Vicky, but she seemed different than when he left earlier today. "About...?"

"I heard what happened today. With Veronica." she heard Timmy gulp. "And Tootie."

"Is that right? Oh! Did you hear that? It sounds like my goldfish are calling me! Don't worry Cosmo, Wanda, I'm coming up to feed you! Sorry Vicky, can we talk later?"

"Oh sure, go feed your fish! We'll talk later!"

"Thanks!" Timmy quickly walked out of the kitchen.

Vicky returned to rubbing her head. "Boy, he really cares about those gold-" realization struck Vicky like a freight train. "Hey!" she looked at the bottle of pain relief pills and read the label marked 'side effects'. "Occasional moments of sudden stupidity?! Why can't we make medicine without side effects?!" Vicky sat for several more seconds before speaking again. "Wait! Goldfish don't call you when they need to be fed! Grr...! Twerp!" Vicky ran out of the kitchen and through the living room, then up the stairs.

Timmy heard this and had shut the door to his room and locked it, he wasn't afraid of Vicky, he just didn't know how to deal with his current predicament, he liked Vicky, _really_ liked her, but he was beginning to have these similar feelings toward Tootie as well, the very thing Wolfe warned him about. Vicky was at his door now, and while she wasn't pounding it down, she _was_ knocking rather loudly.

"Open up, _now_! I won't kill you... if you're lucky!"

"I'm not opening the door, I need to think right now. I let you have some time to think, how about you return the kindness?"

"Fine, I'll return the kindness, I won't kill you when I get in, and I _will_ get in!" there was silence for several seconds, then Timmy heard the sound of someone fiddling with the lock on his door.

"You're gonna pick the lock aren't you?" he was answered a second later by his door swinging open.

"Yeah." she shut the door behind her and sat down on his bed, Timmy was sitting in his computer chair, though he was slouching forward. "So..."

"So?"

"What exactly has been going on since you left?"

"How much do you know?"

"I know about Veronica and how she told you her feelings..."

"Then I assume you know I shot her down."

"Uh-huh... and that you went on a 'date' with Tootie."

"I wouldn't really call it that. We just walked around the mall and she insisted on holding my hand."

"And at some point, you told her that you liked her?"

"...Yeah..."

"And then you kissed her or she kissed you?"

"What did she tell you... you know what? Nevermind, she kissed me, on the cheek."

Vicky sat for a minute, scratching her chin and trying to put all of this together.

"I feel compelled to ask, are my feelings and hers just a game to you? I realize I already asked, but it seems like we need to go over this again."

"It isn't a game! You can ask me a thousand times and I'll answer you the same everytime! I just-! I don't know... I like Tootie as a friend, but sometimes when I'm around her, it's like being around you, maybe cause you're related or something, but then I'm reminded of all those years she spent trying to seduce me, and I hesitate, or I think about how much you turn my feelings away, and I grow closer to her instead."

"Well, you _are_ kinda leading her along... while claiming to like me. However..." Vicky stood up and walked over to Timmy. "She also seems to think that this 'other girl' you like is a hussy..."

"You didn't tell her that I like you did you?"

"Nope. But I _am _annoyed that she thinks I'm a hussy, even if she doesn't know it's me she's referring to, and I'm annoyed that she thinks she can beat this other girl in winning your affections..." she leaned in so their faces were inches apart. She expected him to blush at their closeness, but he didn't, he didn't so much as flinch, he _did_ keep that same sad expression on his face. The same could not be said for Vicky, she was blushing, though she was smiling too, trying to make Timmy nervous.

"So... are you trying to mess with me now or-" he was interrupted by Vicky's lips meeting his. _This _surprised him, he blushed now, then wrapped his arms around her and returned the kiss, while Tootie hadn't kissed him like this, the difference between the kisses was immediately obvious, he felt so much more from this kiss than anything else he had ever felt, though after only a few seconds, Vicky pulled away.

"Oh... What am I doing?! I can't- we can't do this! I'm six years older than you! And you like Tootie, and Tootie likes you!"

"But I like _you _more..." he stood up and walked towards her, wrapping his arms around her again. He was taller than he was when he was ten, though she was still taller than him, he now stood just above her chin.

She didn't bother to struggle against him, it felt nice to be held, no one else held her the way Timmy did now.

"If you're so opposed to the idea, why did you kiss me? Why are you still here?"

"I'll chalk that up to the pills I took for my headache..."

"So there's no chance that these feelings that you're showing are genuine?"

"I didn't say that..."

"So you _do_ care?"

"_God... he sounds so hopeful..." _"Well, I don't go around kissing guys I _don't_ like... But you have to work out this thing... whatever it is, with Tootie, I'm not sharing..." her eyes were watering a little, but she was smiling down at him.

"How am I supposed to do that? If you talked to her, you know how she is..."

"I know, I live with her, she isn't going to take you liking me well..."

"If only she liked someone else... I have no idea what she even sees in me, I pretty much always pushed her away for years, and she didn't give up, just kept pushing forward."

"Determination runs in the family... but I think she likes the fact that you're so nice, you aren't the type to hold grudges, you forgive relatively easily, and you're nice to people, you were nice to her especially when you asked her if she wanted to come sit with you and the rest of the Twerp Squad. Sorry to say, but you kinda doomed yourself..."

"So you're saying I'm in this situation because I'm too nice?"

"Pretty much."

"I don't think I'm cut out for being mean though, especially when it's toward someone who hasn't wronged me, I certainly wouldn't turn down a chance at revenge, but I don't go around just ruining people's days either..."

"You should try being mean sometimes, it's exhilarating! And it would keep you out of situations like this."

"Let's agree to disagree on that one. I had this conversation earlier with AJ, I'm not compromising who I am, I don't like being mean, and I don't like hurting people."

"You're gonna have to in this case." she pulled herself out of the hug. "Either Tootie, or me, one of us is gonna get hurt, and, not like I'm trying to sway you toward hurting Tootie or anything, but if you decide to hurt me, I _will _hurt you. Just saying."Vicky left his room and returned downstairs.

"You guys can come out now..." Cosmo and Wanda appeared before him after he spoke.

"So what're you gonna do sport? Do you like Tootie, or Vicky?"

"I dunno, I wish I did but-" there was the sound of his godparents wands fizzling out. "Your magic can't interfere with love, yeah."

"You certainly got enough warnings about this, I didn't want you to be heartbroken from this, but now it seems you're gonna end up breaking someone elses heart. I don't envy your position..."

"I like them both though! I hate that I'm being forced to choose!"

"Well, you can't have them both, you know that. Those types of things never work out well..."

"Don't you think I know that?!" his anger was evident now. "I know I can't have them both, it isn't right, especially after what I told Vicky..."

Wanda looked down sadly.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you, Wanda. I'm just... stressed out about this situation, but I shouldn't take it out on you..."

"Don't worry about it, we've all said things we don't really mean in anger at one point or another. But do you know what you're gonna do?"

"I'm gonna have to break Tootie's heart, I think. I've liked Vicky for longer than I've liked Tootie, and this whole 'liking Tootie' thing may have just been brought about by my liking Vicky and, in some way, using Tootie to get away from Veronica..."

"So that's your decision?"

"I hope it is, when tomorrow rolls around, I really hope that I have the courage to tell her, and hopefully she doesn't hate me and Vicky for the rest of our lives..."

"Well, just make sure you let her down gently, maybe avoid telling her who it is you like, exactly... You breaking things off is gonna be enough of a shock, you don't want to double her grief by telling her that you like her sister, someone who, as far as Tootie knows, has never shown you any compassion."

"Breaking things off?"

"You know what I mean..."

"Yeah... I don't suppose you got anything else?"

"Sorry sport, this one's on you, I don't think our magic will help you out here."

"Perfect."

_Downstairs..._

"This frickin' kid just might drive me to drink again... not that that would necessarily be a bad thing..." now she _was_ considering the prospect of repeating the events from the night before. _"No! Definitely not! _He _may be too much of a prude to try anything, but I don't know if _I'll _be as hesitant. I'm still foggy on what exactly happened..." _"I'm hungry... Twer- ugh... Timmy!" _"It feels weird calling him by his name..."_

Timmy came running downstairs. "Yeah?"

"You hungry? I figured we could call and order something... I don't feel like cooking anything."

"Sure, what did you have in mind?"

"Probably just pizza."

"Alright, sounds good."

Vicky called the restaurant and was told that the wait would be thirty minutes.

"They didn't tell me it would be free if they were late..."

"Likely because too many drivers took too long to get the pizza delivered in time, so they stopped that."

"Not my fault they took too long."

"You had something to do with them stopping that, didn't you?"

"What? Like sabotaging the cars, or purposefully taking just a little too long to answer the door? I would never!"

Timmy crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you even ask? Of course I had something to do with that, I like pizza, but I like free pizza way more!"

"I should've known..." he walked over and sat next to Vicky on the couch.

"Um... I didn't invite you to come sit with me..."

"I know. I'm not gonna wait for you to either, it _is _my house... and I wanna sit on the couch." Vicky stood and made for the recliner chair before being yanked back onto the couch by Timmy. "I meant with you..."

"Isn't this kinda... forward?" Vicky was blushing from the feeling of her hand in Timmy's in this situation.

"Says the girl who kissed me not five minutes ago."

"_Damn, good point."_ Vicky was becoming more and more nervous, she was too used to being the dominant one in her interactions and relationships, but Timmy seemed to delight in reversing the roles on her, he almost never blushed like his quiet and unsure attitude would suggest he would, the only time she had noticed him blushing was during the kiss, and that faded pretty quickly once he began returning the kiss. "I-I'm just-..."

"Nervous?"

"No! I'm never nervous! That isn't me! I-I'm p-perfectly fine... N-no worries!" _"Oh my god! I sound pathetic... there's no way that convinced him..."_

"I hope you don't think that convinced me. Cuz it didn't. You never stutter or sound nervous, except just now. It's kinda..."

"Pathetic..." Vicky glanced over to the TV, which still worked, despite the large crack in the screen.

"Uh... I was gonna go with cute, but..." he scratched the back of his head, there was a slight pink tint to his cheeks, but it didn't even compare to the blush on Vicky's face.

"I... uh..." Vicky seemed to be broken again, like the time when Timmy first revealed his feelings to her.

"_Alright, enough beating around the bush." _Timmy moved closer to Vicky and gently pushed her down onto the couch. If there was any doubt in his mind whether Vicky was blushing before, there wasn't now, being within a few inches of her face, he thought he could feel the heat from her blushing due to him being on top of her, though for all he knew, it could've been the heat from his own blush that he felt. "Too far?"

"N-no..."

He began leaning closer to her, hoping to initiate contact and see if the feeling he felt earlier when they kissed could be felt again.

_DING-DONG_

"And then the doorbell rang." Timmy huffed and got off of Vicky, she continued lying on the couch for a few seconds before sitting back up and smoothing her hair back down. She noticed Timmy begin to take out his wallet.

"I-I'll get it!"

"I've got it, you stay here on the couch." he flashed a smile at her when he finished.

"O-okay..."

Timmy walked to the door and opened it, revealing a rather bored looking girl with medium-short length blonde hair, wearing a black t-shirt, and dark green jeans, she looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. She wore a name tag that indicated her name as 'Heather'. "How much is it?"

"Ten-fifty."

Timmy handed her a twenty, along with two quarters.

"A ten dollar tip? You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm in a good mood this afternoon."

"Alright... thanks." Heather walked back to her car and drove away.

"Huh... feel like I know her from somewhere... oh well." he walked back in the house and shut the door behind him. "Vicky? The name Heather ring any bells?"

Vicky was still staring blankly at the TV, she evidently hadn't heard him.

"Hey! Vicky!"

Still no response.

"Icky Vicky?" her response was swift this time, a pillow from the couch collided with his face, nearly knocking him over from the force.

"Don't call me that." she stuck her tongue out at him after she finished.

"Did you even hear me?"

"What? Something about a Heather?"

"Yeah..."

"She isn't another girl you like, is she?"

"Wha? No! I asked if you recognize her name..."

"Let me think... there's a girl who runs a coffee shop in the Dimmsdale mall, from what I've heard the coffee is really good, but she only opens after the sun has set, so not many people know about it, I went there once, and I'm inclined to agree, the coffee is pretty good. The weird part was, she shooed me out shortly after ten, and didn't give me a reason why... Oh! And the mall had a strange smell to it when I was leaving, kind of..."

"Like copper?"

"Hm... I guess..."

"When I was in the mall earlier today, I noticed the same smell..."

"Sounds like we've got a mystery on our hands! How about some late night mall recon?"

"Oh sure! I'll just grab my talking dog and my stoner friend, I think he has a van with flowers painted on it, and we'll go around solving mysteries and catching criminals..."

"Are... are you being sarcastic?"

"Very."

Vicky began to pout. "I just wanted to go solve a mystery..."

"Well find another one, Wolfe told me to stay away from the mall after dark, and I have no intention of ignoring what he said."

"Pfft, whatever, I was just kidding around anyway. That coppery smell makes me way too uneasy..."

"Same here." he sat down on the couch and placed the pizza between them. "You wanna watch anything in particular or..." It was then that Timmy noticed the large crack in the TV screen. "What happened to the TV?"

"I got angry."

"Oh, okay. I should've guessed."

"Just put on whatever, I don't care what we watch."

"How about horror?"

"Sure, whatever, just pick something!"

Timmy decided on a movie about giant spiders terrorizing a small town that had a comically inept police force. He wasn't aware that Vicky was actually afraid of spiders, at least the giant, human eating variety. He didn't think she would be, she never seemed to mind looking at or holding the spiders around the house.

"You mind putting something else on?" her voice betrayed no fear.

"But it's almost over! Besides, you said you didn't care what I watched."

"Well I do now!" she reached for the remote, but Timmy quickly pulled it away. "Gimme that!" she lunged at him and knocked the now empty pizza box off the couch.

"Nope!" he stuck his arm out over his head and tried to keep Vicky away with his foot, but she pushed his foot away so that she was able to crawl on top of him, then reached up to grab the remote away, only for him to throw it out of reach and wrap his arms around her. She flinched as he did so and realized she fell into a trap. "So Vicky, are you afraid of spiders, or is this just a ploy to get on top of me?"

She blushed again. "This seems more like a trap by you to get your hands on me..."

"Well, this is going better than I expected, but I'll need an answer first."

"Alright fine, so I'm a little afraid of giant spiders..."

"But not regular size spiders?"

"No, the little ones are kinda cute... but those big ones in the movies?" Vicky visibly shuddered.

"Well no worries, your brave knight will protect you from the spiders."

"Brave knight?"

"Hey, that's what you called me the other night."

"Agh... I still can't remember everything from that night."

"So... since we're already in this position..." he tightened the embrace slightly.

"Well..." Timmy didn't wait for her response and met her lips with his, she felt his hands moving slowly down her body and stopped the kiss. "Hands above the waist."

"And you call me a prude..."

She silenced him with a kiss of her own, then felt a hand trail up her front and tentatively cup a breast. Her response was to bite his lower lip hard enough to draw a drop of blood.

"Ow..."

"And off the chest."

Timmy stuck out his lower lip in a pouting fashion and groaned.

"We haven't even been 'together' for a day! Not even half a day! Control your hormones!"

"Bah, just testing the water... I can control myself... hopefully."

* * *

A/N: For those wondering about the sequel to 'The Price You Pay', it's still happening, I just need to figure out how it'll go, hopefully I'll have the first few chapters up by the end of next week, I just got carried away with this story. Also, Heather isn't an OC, that's all I'm saying about that. And I'll update 'Summer of Discontent' sometime tomorrow, hopefully. If anyone has any questions about the stories, feel free to lave them in a review or PM me, I'll answer what I can. As usual, thank you for the reviews, they really keep me going, unless they're bad reviews that don't help me improve, then I'll likely just ignore them.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Gonna go ahead and rate this as 'M' from here on out, mostly for safety's sake, I'd rather not take any chances, the 'M' will be for blood, but even that might be light, this isn't a horror story after all, I might tread on the line between safe content and sexual content, depending on my personal confidence levels. Nobody expect anything explicit, it ain't happening... yet. Also, for those asking about the copper smell, I'm gonna do a one shot that'll go into that, it'll be a part of this story, but will be standalone, I don't feel that the explanation has a place in the story itself. I'm not even sure putting the whole copper side story was a good idea, but I'd have to re-write the whole story if I took it out, and that would be too much work, so all you patient peoples will get a story that will explain it.

* * *

It turned out Timmy was right, he could control his hormones... for the most part, he was able to keep his hands above the waist... but off her chest? Not so much. After swatting his hand away for the third time, she gave up and allowed it. If he tried to take it further, she could just stop it, right? That is, until she felt something pushing into her belly.

"Alright Hotshot, calm it down or go take a cold shower."

"Probably a good idea to stop here anyway, I've heard rushing into sex is bad for relationships..."

"Like that would stop you..."

"Don't do that."

"What?"

"Too many girls these days think guys are after 'one thing', I know what they're talking about, that isn't what I'm after. I know I can't exactly prove it, especially with the reaction from my... 'head', but..."

"I know how to prove it."

"How's that?"

"You could take me out on a date."

"A date?" she expected the idea to cause him to blush, or for him to flat out say no, she didn't expect his actual reaction. "Sure. It's Saturday night, my friends and Tootie have probably gone home by now... So why not? Let's go out on date."

"Are- are you serious? You wanna go out on a date? A serious date? With me?"

"I don't see any other beautiful red-heads named Vicky around here, do you?"

"Beautiful...?"

"That's what I said."

"No." she had never thought of herself as beautiful, not ever, and her lack of a dating life proved that.

"No? Whaddya mean no? That's not how this works, when someone tells you you're beautiful, you can't really disagree with them..."

"_I _can. Now I know you're lying, I'm _not_ beautiful."

"You are. And if I have to prove it to you tonight, I will."

"How do you plan to do that?" she wasn't particularly hopeful that he would change her mind, but she did want to hear this plan of his, if only to have a giggle later.

"Simple actually, I'm gonna take you on the best date of your life... unless I one-up myself later..."

"First."

"Hm?"

"First date, I haven't really been on a real date before..."

"My goodness, it's worse than I thought! Alright, go get cleaned up, I'll plan this night out!"

Vicky stood and went upstairs to the bathroom, he watched her leave before he began to panic. "Shit! Why did I make a promise like that?! How am I gonna make this the best date ever?! I don't know anything about dating!"

Vicky looked at herself in the mirror, she washed her face and looked over her clothes, it seemed she had avoided getting any grease on her, so there was that. "What am I thinking? Going on a date?! Those pills must still be affecting me..." When she felt she was sufficiently put together, she returned downstairs. "So you think of anything yet?"

"Of course! Um... long as you don't mind driving..."

"I can drive. Where we going?"

"Giovanni's."

"You can't afford that place..."

"You let me worry about that." he had a sly smile on his face.

"I don't like that look, that's my thing..."

They arrived at the restaurant and Timmy quickly ran around the car to Vicky's door and opened it for her.

"Ever the gentleman..." she smiled at Timmy.

"Of course."

They entered the restaurant and Timmy talked to the greeter, a rather haughty looking man who was obviously looking down on them as soon as they entered. "Hey there, I'm here with my date, Turner? Party of two?" Vicky blushed at the mention of the word 'date'.

"One moment sir." he looked over the list of people, then at Timmy and Vicky, how dare these two greasy teenagers come in here dressed so... casually?! This was a fancy restaurant and these two bundles of... hormones... were here trying to get in! "Hm... I don't see your name here... Perhaps you're mistaken?" he was judging them by the tone of his voice.

"Timmy... we can just go... this place is a bit too fancy for me anyway..."

"Would you excuse us for a moment sir?"

"Of course. Take your time." _"__And listen to your woman for goodness' sake!"_

Timmy pulled Vicky aside. "Vicky?"

"Can we just go? I don't wanna start a scene..."

Timmy was unused to this Vicky, she was... meek, timid even. _"Am I having this effect on her?" _"Let me handle it, I got this." he winked at her.

"Alright..."

Timmy returned to the attendant-person. "Gee, I sure _wish _my name and my date's name were on the list..." there was a barely audible poofing sound.

"Sir, I'm willing to look again, but I don't see- Wait, Timmy Turner?"

"Yeah-huh?"

"It seems I was mistaken... you are on here after all... my apologies."

"No problem! Everyone makes mistakes."

"If the two of you would follow me..." he led them past several tables, at which sat some very well-dressed people. The people looked at the pair that walked by, there were murmurs about Timmy mostly, how wealthy his parents were, a few about Vicky, these were from her customers, they seemed surprised to see her there, especially in such... regular clothes.

Vicky tapped him on the shoulder. "Timmy... everyone's staring..."

"Ignore them. Just think about us. This date."

"But..."

"Here is your table. Heather will be your waitress. She should be along shortly."

"Thank you."

"Of course sir." the annoying man quickly walked away.

"You don't think Heather is the... same Heather?"

"I'm sure there are plenty of women with the name Heather in Dimmsdale..." immediately after saying this, the same girl that had brought their pizza showed up. She wore the same outfit as when she delivered the pizza, unlike the other waiters and waitresses, who wore standard waiter attire.

"Hi, I'm Heather... I'll be your waitress today... or tonight... whatever... What can I-"

"Um... Hey."

"What? Pizza not enough for you two?" she giggled at the two of them.

"To be fair, that was a few hours ago. I have a fast metabolism."

"What can I get you?"

"I'll have the... Chicken Parmesan and a coke, please. Vicky?"

She had her face hidden behind her menu.

"Vicky?"

"I'll have... the same... please."

"Okay... Anything else?"

"Um... no, that's should be it, thanks."

"Great. I'll take your menus... If you need anything else, you know who to ask." she walked away only to be stopped by the haughty man that greeted them. From what Timmy could tell, they seemed to be having an argument, but were whispering to avoid bothering the other patrons, this played out for several minutes before Heather stepped forward and stomped the man's foot, eliciting a loud cracking sound that echoed through the dining room. Heather stormed off, clearly still angry, the man stood for several seconds before limping back to the front of the restaurant.

"What do you think that was about?" Timmy was reminded by Vicky speaking that he was still on a date with her.

"If I had to guess... I'd say it was something about her lack of a uniform..."

"How do you think she gets away with that?"

"Same way you do?"

"There's a limit to what I can get away with, and stomping on my boss' foot? I don't think I'd be able to get away with that..."

Silence returned and prevailed for several minutes.

Timmy occasionally glanced over at Vicky, who continued to look uneasy in her current situation. _"Well this is awkward... Say something! This is supposed to be the best date!"_

"So how are things going with your parents?" Vicky spoke and snapped him from his thoughts.

"Hm? Oh... They're... fine, I guess..."

"You wanna... talk about it?"

"I don't want to burden you with my problems, this night is supposed to be about you..." he was looking down at his hands as he played with his napkin.

Vicky reached across the table and put her hand on his, causing her to blush at her own action. "This night... it's about _us_. I'm not exactly good at this whole... touchy feely thing..." she looked around the room to see if anyone was watching them, thankfully, most of the customers were more absorbed with their own conversations, or their food. "But... I've known you long enough to know when something is wrong... You can tell me..."

"It's fine, Vicky. I know doing this type of thing is... well, I know you aren't really comfortable..." he grabbed her hand and squeezed it lightly.

"You're right, I'm not comfortable." he began to loosen his grip on her hand. "But..."

Timmy looked up at her and met her gaze. _"Her eyes are so beautiful, they've gotta be one in a million..."_

"In the past day and a half, you've treated me better than... well, anyone has in my whole life... I want- I want to make this work, but..."

"But?"

"If something's wrong... You can tell me." she smiled at him.

"...Later. If you still want to talk about it, I'll tell you. For now... Let's just focus on the here and now."

"I'll hold you to it."

"Yo." Heather had re-appeared with their food. "If I remember... Chicken Parmesan and... Oh right! Chicken Parmesan!" Timmy and Vicky looked at her skeptically. "Sorry, wasn't a very good joke..."

"Thanks!"

"You two need anything else... you know, blah blah blah."

"She really seems to like her job!" Vicky spoke in a tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Can you blame her? Her boss is kind of a dickbag."

"I suppose not..."

The rest of dinner passed uneventfully, there was mostly just small talk about their families and how life in general was going.

When they had finished eating, Heather returned with their check. "Ah crap... I forgot to ask if you wanted dessert..."

"Good thing we're both full then, huh?"

"Oh thank god!" the other patrons looked over at the commotion. "Er... just pay for it whenever... I'm gonna go get ready to leave..." Heather quickly walked off.

Timmy checked the bill.

"I can help out if-"

"Nope! I got it. Remember, I'm taking _you_ out."

"But..."

"No buts!" he opened his wallet and took out a hundred dollar bill.

"It was that much?!"

"Didn't I say don't worry? I got it."

"How long have you been planning this?!"

"I haven't."

"What?"

"I haven't planned any of this. Have you ever seen me with any other girls? I don't have any experience with this kind of thing, well, other than being a hopeless romantic. I'm winging it here, to be honest."

"That's a lie, definitely. No one is this good at improvising..."

"Well I guess I must be the exception then, huh?"

"Alright then. Where are we headed now?"

"How about..." _"Shit... The only place left is..." _"The mall. I heard they have some good movies at the theater tonight?"

"Didn't you say that we should stay out of the mall after dark?"

Timmy checked his phone. "Well... if we leave now, we should get out by nine-thirty, long as we're out before ten, we'll be fine!"

"Okay..."

Heather returned to their table. "I'll be right back with your change..."

"Nah, it's all there."

Heather opened the booklet and saw the hundred. She took it out and waved it in front of him. "For a thirty-five dollar bill? You leave me a sixty five dollar tip?"

"I saw the argument with dickbag over there." Timmy pointed to the man by the door. "You look like you could use it. Also the service was great."

"Uh... thanks... Do you happen to know the time?"

"It's... a little after seven..."

"Shit!" she caught the attention of the whole restaurant again. "Er... I mean... Damn. I have to go, thanks for the tip!" she grabbed the hundred and pocketed it, then ran off.

"Shall we head out?"

"Lets."

The two of them headed out to Vicky's car and watched as a city bus sped by the restaurant.

"No no no no no! Fuck!" it was Heather once again.

"Everything okay?"

"Far from it... I'm gonna be so late now!" she spun around to see Timmy and Vicky. "We must stop meeting like this."

"Where ya headed?" Vicky spoke up.

"Wha-? Oh, no I couldn't."

"Just tell me where you're going."

"Ah... I have to get to my next job at the mall."

"What a happy coincidence! That's where we're going!"

"Too good to be a coincidence..." Heather muttered under her breath.

"What's that?" Vicky and Timmy began getting in her car.

"I'm okay, really. I don't want to be a bother..."

Vicky looked back at Heather. "Get in."

Heather didn't particularly like the tone in Vicky's voice, it sounded... dangerous. But she didn't want to be late either. "Alright fine. Thanks... again."

"No problem!"

"So you two are...?"

"Hm? Oh!" Vicky blushed.

"She's my babysitter, Vicky. I'm Timmy by the way. I was just taking her out to dinner because she's such a great babysitter!"

"Heheh... yeah..." _"He's enjoying making me squirm!"_

"That's sweet... You must really care about her."

"She is my favorite person to be around."

Vicky swerved slightly at hearing this.

"You okay?"

"Oh yeah, just swerved to avoid a cat..."

"Yeah, there are a lot of strays in this city..."

The rest of the drive was quiet, with occasional glances over at Timmy by Vicky.

They arrived at the mall and Heather quickly got out of the car. "Thanks! You really saved my ass back there!" she began digging through her pockets and took out some money. "This should cover-"

"Keep it."

"Wha?"

"Keep it, just doing my good deed for the day."

"You two are way too nice... thanks again, next time you're at the restaurant, ask for me!"

"Will do." they watched Heather run off into the mall.

"Did you... just turn down a money making opportunity?"

"I think so..." Vicky seemed to not believe it herself. "This is your fault."

"That you're being nicer?"

"Yeah..."

Timmy remembered what he told Vicky earlier, he wanted someone to talk to about it, and now seemed like as good a time as any. "...You wanted to know about what's bothering me?"

"Yeah but-"

"It's my parents."

"What about them?"

"You know... them always leaving me with you... I'm not saying I don't like being around you... but they're always so keen to just leave me. They almost didn't even call you this weekend..."

"You could've called me... I would've come over..."

"Really?"

"Yes! I know I'm mean to you... pretty much all the time... but I don't want anything bad to happen to you!" she pulled him into a hug. "Even before all this... romance stuff, you were still my Twerp..."

"So... how are you feeling about... us?"

"I still think you're crazy. I still think you should find someone who deserves you, someone who wasn't horrible to you..."

"But?"

"I'm not gonna be able to talk you out of this either. And I won't deny that I want this..."

"I want this too, and I want you to believe me when I say this is real... Do you really think I would put this much work into some elaborate prank on you? To get back at you for things I never hated you for in the first place?" he stopped and looked off at nothing in particular, then looked back at her like he just had an epiphany. "How about this?" he took her hand and placed it on his chest, over where his heart would be.

"Wha-?" she felt that his heart was beating faster than what she assumed a normal heartbeat would. A lack of physical contact on her part.

"I don't feel this way with anyone else. Not even Tootie, this is only with you."

Vicky pulled her hand away and put them both up to cover her rapidly growing blush.

"That enough evidence for you...?"

"Yeah..." the word was squeaked out.

"You wanna go see that movie now...?"

"Mm-hm." also a squeak.

Timmy got out of the car and shut his door, then ran around it to open Vicky's for her. Vicky still had her hands over her face. "Vicky?" _"This Vicky is... dare I say adorable? Well, not in front of her, either I'll get a fist to the face, or she'll have a heart attack..." _He grabbed one of her hands and moved it away from her face, leaving half of it exposed, and looking at him. "You coming?"

"Um... yeah."

Timmy laced his fingers with hers and led her through the mall toward the movie theater.

"Oh! Wait!" Timmy was yanked backward by Vicky. "This place is open!" Vicky pointed to a place marked 'The Coffee Shop'.

"Here? I never see you drink coffee."

"That's because I prefer _good_ coffee. Like from here."

"Oh! This is the place that only opens at night! I remember now."

"You mind if we stop in real quick?"

"Sure... I mean I am taking you out..."

Vicky had already run inside. Timmy sniffed the air. "Damn it... they must have some weird pipes in here or something..." he then followed her inside.

"Hey, welcome to my shop..." Heather stood behind the counter reading a magazine, she hadn't bothered to look up.

"So this is where you had to be, huh?"

Heather looked up at the two people standing before her. "Are you two following me?"

"Sure seems that way, but not intentionally..."

"You two still on your 'date'?"

"Yeah, we were gonna see a movie but... Vicky wanted to stop in here first."

"Hm... gimme a sec... Oh! I remember! You've come in here a few times, you want the usual?"

"You remember?"

"I remember all my customers, mostly because I don't have too many. I'll be right back... does he want anything?"

"Timmy?"

"I'll have the same?"

"Okay, be right back."

"Aren't you a little young to drink coffee?"

"I'm a little young to like a twenty year old woman and take her on a romantic date too, but hey."

Vicky blushed again. "You having fun? Making me blush like some lovestruck moron?"

"Kinda..." he smiled at her, and she felt her heart flutter.

"Hey, when you two are done staring off into each others eyes, your drinks are here."

"Thanks. What do I owe you?"

"You're kidding right? After everything tonight? You two are preferred customers, and preferred customers get free whatever I say."

"Oh... thanks!"

"No problem, go enjoy the rest of your date... and don't stay in the mall after ten. Really."

"Got it."

Timmy sipped from the drink he got. "I wouldn't have expected you to be a fan of ice coffee... or make it so sweet."

"I like it like that, I've never liked hot coffee, and I like sweet things..."

"That explains why you like me then..."

"Singing your own praises?"

"Only a little..."

They arrived outside the theater. "Alright, we have 'Bloodbath two: Blood Feast'?"

"No."

"Some sappy romance movie..."

"What's it called?"

"Some Sappy Romance Movie."

"Pass."

"And... oh, get a load of this: 'Revenge: Back to the Revenge two, Revengenate Harder."

"You're making that up!" Vicky had been looking at a store further in the mall and spun around to look at Timmy, who side-stepped so she could see the movie poster. "Oh my god. You aren't making it up!"

Timmy looked at Vicky.

Vicky looked at Timmy.

"We have to see it!" both spoke at the same time.

Timmy ran up to the ticket booth. "Two tickets for... that revenge movie!"

"Here. Enjoy, I heard the explosion scenes are pretty realistic!"

"Thanks..." _"If the best part of the movie is how realistic the explosions are..."_

"All set?"

"Yeah, c'mon."

"Oh, and try to keep your hands to yourself, Timmy. Just because it's dark in there doesn't mean you can... well you know."

"You're right, I'll wait until we get back to my house."

Vicky once again blushed at Timmy's words. What happened to the kid she was used to? The one that always seemed timid around her? The one that once feared her?

"I'm kidding! I'm not gonna do anything like that in public... unless you're comfortable with it."

"I'm not."

"I kinda figured."

The movie had been about as good as they expected. That is, not very.

Vicky groaned as they exited the theater. "Alright, I think next time we'll just see the romance one, it can't be any worse than that was..."

"I dunno, the giant robot fight was alright..."

"Right, one man fighting off a robot the size of a large building with only a sword, that he occasionally swung with his foot."

"Fine! At least we saw it. And know not to see it ever again."

"Amen to that."

As they navigated through the mall back to the entrance, Timmy noticed Wolfe sitting at the same bench they had found him the day before. "Hey! Still here huh?"

"Kid, I told you, I live here."

"I know, just messing with you."

Wolfe had a solemn expression on his face, he hadn't looked up when Timmy spoke to him.

"What's up?"

Wolfe sighed and rubbed his eyes. "You remember how I told you to stay away from the mall after dark?"

"Yeah, I know. We were just leaving..."

"You smell it, don't you?"

Vicky sniffed at the air. "...Copper."

"Yeah..."

"Not the first time... what's the matter?"

"I'm tired."

"Tired?"

"We've been at this for two years now, and it always comes back, neither of us can get away from it, and I'm the cause, the reason Heather can't live a normal life..."

All three were silent for over a minute before Wolfe spoke again. "I won't keep you two. Head on home... And Timmy! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"Very funny Wolfe..."

_Several minutes later..._

They had made it back to Timmy's house without incident, no more embarrassing, no more swerving to avoid imaginary cats.

"So, would the gentleman like to walk me to my home?"

"But this is my house..."

"I know. I spend so much time here... it feels like my home away from home."

"I suppose it is the thing to do after a date..."

Timmy walked her to his door. "I had a really nice time Timmy."

"The pleasure was all mine, it's not every night I get to go out with a beautiful girl."

"Heh... alright... I'll take it, you do care."

"I knew I'd convince you eventually, and to think, I improvised everything..."

"Yeah, yeah. We are all in awe of your improvisational skills... just come here." she pulled him into a tight embrace and kissed him.

"So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Sure, I'd like that." Vicky opened the door and walked inside, then waved goodbye and closed it.

Timmy turned around and made for the car, he put his hand on the door and was hit with a sudden realization. "I live here." he spun around and ran back to the door to his house and opened it.

"Oh hey! How was your date?" Vicky sat on the couch watching TV.

Timmy didn't say anything and walked over to the couch, then sat down next to Vicky. He looked like he had something on his mind. "I want to talk about something... if you don't mind?"

"We're not having sex."

"Yeah, not that. I meant my parents."

Vicky turned off the TV leaving them in the dim light cast into the room from the kitchen. "Go ahead."

"Do you... do you think they actually care about me? At all?"

"I'm sure they do, maybe they just aren't very good at showing it..."

"But it's always been you, you've always been there to take care of me, what about them? They always leave..."

"You know I'm not that great... I've been horrible to you..."

"You can say that all you want, but at least you were there. They don't even treat me bad, they almost act like I don't even exist, only acknowledging me at the bare minimum..."

"My parents... they don't care about either me or Tootie, they did at first, until I became a teenager, then they only cared about Tootie, once she hit her teens... It was the same, the only way she was able to get through it was thanks to me, I did my best to help her along the way... but I can't fill the hole in her heart that they left."

"Here I am feeling sorry for myself, and you're in the same boat... I'm sorry, I didn't know... How did you get through it?"

"By being mean. It's what I'm good at."

Timmy moved over on the couch and leaned into her, resting his head on her shoulder. "You think you'd be willing to help me through this?"

"What do you mean by that?" there were words she wanted him to say, words she knew would be hard for him to say.

"I _need_ you." he looked up at her, there were tears in his eyes. "I know we've only been at this for a short time but... I think..."

"_What? He thinks what? Could he...?"_

"I love you." he looked at the TV now, despite it being off, likely not wanting to meet her gaze.

Vicky felt his arm snake around her waist and tighten ever so slightly. "Y-you... you love..."

"Yeah. I think I do. I think I have for a while now. I want you to know."

"I..." Vicky was having trouble forming a coherent thought. _"Love? But-but... me? And- and him?" "You were leaning in this direction anyway, you just didn't expect it to escalate so quickly!" "But... he can't love me! He can't! This relationship is too new!"_

"I don't expect an answer right now, I know that this is... sudden."

"I just..." she wanted to question him, to yell at him even. How could he know about love? He was still a kid himself! Who can know what love is at fourteen? Hell, she was twenty and had no idea what love was!

She wanted to, but she felt him shaking against her, he was scared. For the first time in a long time, he was scared, but not of her, he was scared of her leaving him. Since the start of the weekend, he was a different Timmy than the one she had known, he was confident and charming and sweet. Now though, he had gone back to being a scared little kid. She realized he wasn't just holding her close because he loved her, he was holding on for dear life, if she pushed him away now, while he was so close to shattering... she shuddered at the thought of what he might do.

"Timmy? You should get to bed, c'mon." she tried to stand and realized he still held on. "Timmy c'mon."

He released her from his grip and wiped his eyes. "Right."

She walked ahead of him and up the stairs, then led him into his room.

She watched as he took off his shoes and climbed into bed under his blanket. As he did, she rubbed at her arms. _"It's freezing in here!"_ "Goodnight Timmy." she made for the door.

"Wait."

Vicky hesitantly turned around. "Yeah?"

"Would you... mind sleeping in here?"

"With... you? Vicky's cheeks were beginning to turn pink.

"Yeah..." he lifted the comforter and patted the space on the bed next to him.

This time, she wasn't under the influence of anything, no alcohol, and the pills had worn off. "I... um..." _"Just do it. You already did it earlier anyway..." _Vicky walked over to the bed and took off her shoes, then laid down next to Timmy, who then threw the blanket over her.

"Sorry, I like to keep it cold in here." he moved a bit closer to Vicky, who laid on her back, staring at the ceiling. "Goodnight Vicky, and thanks..." he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. After a few minutes, he felt movement from Vicky's side of the bed. _"She's probably going to go back downstairs... This is what I get for getting too close, I only get hurt in the end..." _He felt arms wrap around him and pull him close, causing his eyes to shoot open and look up at Vicky.

"What?"

"I thought..."

"You thought I was gonna leave, didn't you?"

"I was afraid you would..."

"I don't blame you, part of me wanted to but... you need someone here for you, you need me. I'm not going anywhere." she nuzzled her face in his hair. "Go to sleep, I'll be here when you wake up, I promise."

* * *

A/N2: Just so there aren't any plot holes, Blood and Rust takes place next, then Chapter Seven.


	7. Chapter 7

_He was swimming. Swimming? Where? From what he could make out, it looked like the ocean, but it was dark._

_He wasn't swimming, he was sinking. So why didn't he panic? Why could he breathe? A green fish swam by and looked at him, it winked, then swam off, only to bump into a pink shark, which began chasing after it._

_He sank lower and lower and it became brighter and brighter, enough so that he could see at least. He came to rest at the sandy bottom of the ocean in a chair at a table... a poker table, from what he could tell. Cards fluttered down and came to rest in his hands._

"_I don't know anything about poker..."_

"_That's fine, neither do I." across from him and to his right sat Tootie, she too held five cards in her hands, the back of each card showed a green bear and a pink bear, high-fiving._

"_Nor I." across from him and to his left sat Vicky, she held the same cards as Tootie._

"_Anybody know why we're here?"_

"_To decide." A man in knight's armor stood to his left, looking at Timmy's cards. "That's a full house by the way."_

"_Who are you, exactly?"_

"_C'mon kid, you know me, and I know you." he took off his helmet and Timmy realized it was Wolfe, though he had a full beard, unlike his characteristic permanent five o' clock shadow. "You have to make a decision, I told you before, you can't have both. You have to break a heart, or lose everything."_

"_What decision? What do you mean? And why am I playing poker at the bottom of the ocean?!"_

_The water quickly drained away to reveal they were in a dry riverbed, high walls sat to the left and right, there was an opening in the area behind where Vicky and Tootie sat, where the river had once flowed out perhaps?_

_Wolfe leaned over and placed a red poker chip in front of Timmy, on his left. "This one represents a love you've held for years now, despite the love not wanting to love you, at least, not at first. Despite this, it will still be a hard fought love, there will be times where you are tested to your limits with this path. Or perhaps you have already experienced hardship with this path. You but not you, do you understand?"_

"_Not really..."_

_Wolfe leaned again and placed a black poker chip in front of Timmy, on his right. "This one represents a love that's been held for you for years, despite you not wanting to return the love, at least, not at first. This love is easier to attain, there are no hard fought battles on this path, there will only be one thing, a tragedy. One you will not be able to come back from, it will haunt you until your last breath. You have chosen this path before as well, it does not always have a tragic end, but this time it will, should you pick it."_

"_Sounds like red would be better..."_

"_That is for you to decide. A lifetime of tragedy, or a lifetime of fighting."_

"_A lifetime of fighting?"_

"_Look kid, I'm trying to sound all cool and epic here, maybe not a lifetime but it will be a fight. Now tell me, which sounded cooler?"_

"_Alright fine, I get it."_

"_Good, now choose."_

"_I can't choose! They're both great... they're both important to me..."_

"_You have to, not choosing is worse than choosing one or the other. At least this isn't the illusion of choice. You ever have to deal with that? Trust me, you don't want that..."_

_Plants began to push themselves from the muddy ground and grow to massive proportions in seconds. As they reached full height, they detached themselves from the earth and flew into the sky, before exploding like fireworks._

"_Timmy, you have to make a decision." Tootie looked at Timmy. "You have to choose... But don't break my heart... I can't bear the thought..."_

"_But I don't want to hurt you... you're my friend..."_

"_Timmy? Would you hurt me instead?" Vicky spoke now. "After what we did? After you confided in me, and I in you?"_

"_No I... I care about you too... I wouldn't hurt you..."_

"_So you'd hurt me instead?"_

"_I didn't say that. I..."_

"_You have to make a decision." Wolfe interrupted._

"_I need more time... I can't choose now..."_

_The color drained away from everything, slowly at first, then more rapidly, until the only color remaining was on the poker chips. The water began to flow back in, and Timmy began to float back toward the surface, infinitely high above him._

"_You still have time it seems, but you'll have to choose eventually. Remember, no matter how much you wish it, Hell, even if you _wish_ it, you can't have both."_

_Timmy swam harder to reach the surface, the light grew brighter again, and the surface was within reach, just one more kick and-_

Timmy awoke with a start and sat upright. He found Vicky still in bed with him and laid back down, she stayed, just as she had said she would. His phone let out a beep to notify him that he had plans with Tootie, Chester, and AJ today.

"Might just call and tell them I'm not feeling well... After that dream... I think I might be sick..." he felt his head, it felt normal. He looked at Vicky sleeping next to him peacefully. "Maybe you're right, maybe I am crazy..." he carefully and quietly got out of bed and grabbed his phone, then left his room and went downstairs to sit on the couch.

He scrolled through his contacts and stopped at Tootie's number. "Nobody ever said love was easy..." he wondered if Vicky would return his feelings, there was no rush, from the way she acted when he was around her, she too was likely having a difficult time.

He called Tootie's number.

"Timmy? What's up?"

"I'm... feeling a little under the weather... I think it's some stomach bug... I won't be able to make it today..."

"Are you okay? We could come over if you want..."

"That's alright... I don't want you guys to catch it... Hopefully I'll be able to come to school Monday but, we'll see..."

"Alright, I'll let Chester and AJ know, hope you feel better!"

"Thanks." he hung up and pocketed his phone. "That was easier than I thought it would be..." he felt... guilty? Yes, it was guilt, for what? Lying? That wasn't anything new, he lied before, usually about small things, sometimes about big things, but being sick? That was small, nothing to really feel guilty over. It was something else... it had to be...

"Hey."

He jumped upon hearing Vicky's voice, she hadn't made a sound coming down the stairs.

"You know, when I said that I was gonna stay with you, I kinda expected you to do the same..."

"Sorry, I had plans with Tootie and the guys today..."

"But you're still here because...?"

"I told them I was sick."

"No you aren't."

"Obviously. I wanted to go with them before but..."

"..."

"Well, I wanted to stay here with you today."

"Why?"

"Because?"

"Wouldn't you rather spend time with your friends?"

"Hey, you said I could see you tomorrow last night."

"Yeah, but I figured you'd want to... I dunno, hang out with your friends, then see me later."

"I could bring you along with me instead?"

"I don't think so. Wouldn't Tootie be there?"

"Most likely."

"Then definitely not." she sat down next to Timmy on the couch. "I need to go home today."

"What for?"

"I haven't showered in two days."

"Oh. A good reason, I suppose."

"You wanna come with?"

"Sure, I don't exactly have fond memories of your house, but I'll go."

_Vicky's house..._

"Yeah, he said he was not feeling well, some stomach virus I think." Tootie sat in her living room, talking to AJ on the phone.

"You think he'll be in school tomorrow?"

"Probably not, those things have a habit of sticking around for a few days. I offered for us to come over to his house and see him, but he said he didn't want us to catch it."

"Good thing he said that, I don't want to get sick."

"..."

"What? Would you wanna vomit for the next few days?"

"You're not a very good friend..."

"I'm a great friend! I'm just a very logical person, if I get sick, then that will make me miss school, which would not be very productive, and if I'm going to complete college before my next birthday, I need to be productive."

"You're in high school!"

"And I'm a senior in college, I've been taking courses online, I'm set to graduate in a few weeks, getting sick just doesn't fit into my schedule."

"Ugh... Anyway, you and Chester still wanna meet up?"

"Considering we're at the food court right now..."

"Why are you guys there so early?! We agreed to meet around noon!"

"Chester was hungry. And high."

"I'll be there within the hour... next time call me first, I could've used a ride... Now I have to take the bus..."

"Sorry, I figured you'd want to sleep in. Chester called me bright and early, surprisingly enough, and said we had to get food..."

"Whatever..." she hung up and then a troubling thought hit her: "The buses don't run on Sundays... I have to walk..." resigning herself to the long walk ahead of her, she grabbed her purse and left her house, only to see Vicky coming down the street toward the house, she waved at her sister.

_Meanwhile..._

"Y'know, I just realized this has bad idea written all over it. What if Tootie's there? Or my parents? Well okay, my parents being there doesn't matter, but what if Tootie's there?"

"She's probably going to meet Chester and AJ, they don't need me to have a good time, relax."

"Yeah? What about that?" Timmy followed Vicky's pointing finger to see Tootie waving at the car. "Should I still be relaxed?!"

"Shit." he spied a blanket in the back seat. "Got an idea!"

Vicky watched as Timmy dove into the backseat and laid down on the floor, then threw the blanket over himself.

"Hm. Not bad." Vicky pulled the car into the driveway and rolled down the window. "What's up Toots?"

"Vicky! You have perfect timing! Do you think you could give me a ride to the mall? I have to meet Chester and AJ, and I forgot the buses don't run today."

Vicky glanced nervously into the backseat. "Can't one of them give you a ride? I need to get a few things here, then head back to the Twerp's house..."

"Please? I know it's out of your way, but I'd have to walk there otherwise... I'll make it up to you, promise."

"_Crap! What do I do now?!" _"Umm... Fine, get in. You're a real pain in my ass, you know that?"

"Yay!" Tootie got into the car. "Thanks Vicky! You're the best!"

"Yeah yeah, I am." Vicky reversed out of the driveway and headed in the direction of the mall.

"So how's Timmy doing?"

"Huh?"

"Well, he's sick. Since you're there, I figured you'd know how he is..."

"Oh! Right. He's throwing up a lot, nothing wants to stay down, not even water..."

"Really? Maybe you should take him to the hospital..."

"I would, if I actually cared about his well-being, but I don't, I'm only concerned about getting paid, and relaxing."

"C'mon Vicky, if he's sick, you could at least try to be nice to him, I know you have it in you. And I like him, I'd like it if you took care of him while he's sick."

"Last I checked, I don't take orders from you, you may be my sister, but I'm my own person, I'm not about to start being nice just because you ask me to, and besides, he told me he doesn't want to go to the hospital, which works out nicely, since I don't want to take him."

"He's just being stubborn, if he gets worse, could you please take him to the hospital? For me?"

"Ugh... fine. You owe me big time though."

"Deal."

Timmy still hid beneath the blanket, doing his best to control his breathing and not move to much. He was beginning to feel worse and worse about these two girls, both cared about him, and he cared about them both. _"Am I leading them on in some way? I mean, I'm not doing it deliberately... But what can I do? I don't want to hurt either of them... I _wish _there was a way for me to get Tootie to like someone else, or at least a way for me to get out of this situation!" _He waited for several seconds, but nothing happened. _"Wishes can't affect love..."_

"Alright, we're here. I'll see you whenever the Turners show up to take care of their kid, have fun."

"'Kay, later sis!" Vicky watched Tootie get out and run into the mall. "...You can come out now."

Timmy sat up and took a deep breath. "Oh man, it's really hot under there! Thanks for playing along with the lie..."

"Like I had much choice? If I didn't, it would only arouse suspicion, like why you would lie to your friends about being sick, which has a chance of making them suspicious of me."

Timmy climbed back into the front seat. "Well either way, thanks. Back to your house then?"

Several minutes later they arrived back at Vicky's house. "My parents must have already left for work, so we should be good."

Timmy followed Vicky inside and looked around, the house seemed to have a similar layout to his, though he assumed it had one more room upstairs to accommodate Tootie. "What do your parents do anyway?"

"I think they mostly do accounting in the city, but my mom has an uncanny amount of good luck, she has a gambling habit, but almost never loses. My father has a knack for stocks, he isn't as fortunate with the stock market as my mom is with gambling, but he does okay."

"And yet you live in a middle class neighborhood, in a middle class house."

"Says the kid who is in almost the exact same situation, did you forget how well your parents pay me? I know they must have some pretty good jobs."

"Well they never tell me what it is they do, for all I know, they could be world renowned assassins, or high-ranking government officials, maybe even criminals at the top of the FBI's most wanted list who are master thieves... I'm just as happy not knowing. You know what they say, 'ignorance is bliss'."

"Hmph... I'm gonna go take a shower now." Vicky headed upstairs, followed by Timmy. "You aren't showering with me."

"Darn! You saw through my ruse! I was only following you so I could see your room..."

"Sure you were." Vicky opened the door to her room and went inside, she flicked the lightswitch, and Timmy expected the walls to flip and reveal a sinister array of weapons. But all that happened was the lights coming on. Vicky grabbed a towel and headed out of her room. "You can stay in here if you want, or downstairs, I don't really care, but if you stay in here... don't mess with anything."

"I won't." he watched Vicky leave and immediately began walking around the room, looking for anything that might pique his interest. "I wonder if Vicky keeps a journal..." He began carefully searching the room, looking for a notebook, or something similar. "Damn... I figured since there wasn't much this would be easy, but..." He found a sword hilt sticking out from under Vicky's bed. "Hm..." Pulling it out revealed a medium length katana, fairly ornate, and sharp enough to split hairs. "I expected more weapons..." he placed the katana back in its sheath and under the bed where he found it. He looked over to Vicky's closet and made for it, then thought better of it. "Probably not a good idea..." he opted for returning to Vicky's bed and laying down to wait for her.

Vicky returned after half an hour and entered her room, she began to unwrap her towel when-

"Hey... I- *yawn* I was starting to fall asleep there, your bed is really comfy..."

Vicky jumped and pulled the towel tightly around herself. "Jeez! I forgot you were in here! Guess I'm used to being alone in my room..."

Timmy noticed that what he could see of Vicky was a flushed pink color. "So I'm guessing you like your showers hot?"

Vicky looked at her skin. "Yeah, good for getting clean and relaxing tension away..."

"You know what else is good for getting rid of tension?"

"What's that?" Vicky was looking through her dresser for something to wear, and didn't notice Timmy making his way over to her.

"This." he began rubbing her shoulders, and lightly prodding her muscles with his fingers.

"Hey! What are you-" she put her arms out and leaned onto the dresser for support. "Nevermind, keep going..."

"Forgive me if this isn't... well, amazing. I'm mostly running on instinct here..." he moved his hands lower, just below the top of the towel.

Vicky felt the hold of the towel slackening and snapped out of her trance and held it up. "Um! Thanks, that was... really nice but..."

"I know, we shouldn't move too fast." Timmy backed off and made for the door. "I'll let you get dressed."

Vicky watched him leave and realized she already began to miss his touch. "Great, I'm getting all 'needy' now..." she began looking through her dresser to find that all she had to wear was a forgotten light green sundress, looking near her closet revealed that it was laundry day, two days ago. "Perfect..."

Timmy sat on the couch in Vicky's living room, absentmindedly flipping through channels, he wasn't looking for anything in particular, just something to pass the time while he waited for Vicky. "Wish I knew what was going through her head... Wait..." Timmy's mind was filled with images from Vicky's head, her neglect by her parents, being a loner in school, being mean in response to what people said and did to her, her watching as her parents did the same thing to Tootie as they did to her, the times she took care of him, when she was mean, the times she was nice... "Ugh... guys that was an accident... I didn't actually mean to wish for this..." he was developing a slight headache from the information assault. He saw the times she saved him, and the times he saved her, the time they were stuck in the avalanche stood out, he felt her fear, the way her anger subsided and was replaced by concern for herself and him, the hug, and the feelings it brought, which were quickly buried. The headache began to intensify. More images flashed through his mind, before slowing down at the last few days, he saw the phone call his parents made, the confession of his feelings to her, the hand-holding at the mall, how uncomfortable it made her... how happy it made her... "Happy?" Yes, happy... that was how she had felt, more images... the time she drank, though it was blurry and unfocused, waking up in bed with him, the kisses and hugs, the date... Timmy's head felt like it would split open if he continued. "Ugh... I wish I couldn't read Vicky's thoughts anymore..." the onslaught of images ceased, and he could think clearly again, though the headache remained. "Really need to remember... to stop saying 'I wish' so often..." He heard footfalls on the stairs, though they seemed hesitant. "Hey Vicky? Do you have anything here... for..." he trailed off upon seeing how she was dressed.

"What?"

"I haven't seen that in a long time, that's all..."

"Well... what do you think?" Vicky's blush had come back in full force.

"I wi-... _hope_ I get to see it more, you look nice in a dress..."

Vicky's blush deepened. "Well... don't get used to it! It's just the only thing I have left to wear, your parents called me before I could do laundry..." she noticed Timmy had a somewhat pained expression on his face, and was rubbing his forehead. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... just a headache... not from you though! It came on just after I came down here..."

"Let me check and see if we have anything..." Vicky made her way into the kitchen.

"Hey, you really don't have to get anything, I'll be fine-"

"Too late." Vicky was suddenly next to him with a couple of red and blue capsules and a glass of water. "Now, these didn't say anything about side effects, so you shouldn't have to worry about ending up... like I did last night at your house."

"Oh come on, those pills gave you just enough inhibition release to kiss me, they aren't all bad..." he took the pills with the water. "Thanks."

"Yeah, the only problem is, how far would we have taken it if I didn't snap back to my senses?"

"I wouldn't have taken it that far, you know that."

"I know... I-... I'm not very trusting toward people, I always expect them to have some sort of angle. It's why I don't really have any friends, and why things didn't work out between me and my last few boyfriends, I have a habit of sabotaging my relationships..."

"Maybe they just weren't patient enough with you?"

"That's kind of you to say, but I am partially to blame, and for me, being alone is easier than being with someone who might hurt me."

"I wouldn't hurt you..."

"Don't make promises you can't keep. Getting hurt is part of relationships, part of life, you can't avoid it, not really." Vicky looked off at nothing in particular before re-focusing her gaze on Timmy. "But... I want us to work, and I'm willing to risk getting hurt for this... thing, whatever we have..."

Timmy felt his heart begin to beat faster again, but he also felt a dull ache. He knew why, because no matter how sweet what Vicky had said sounded, he still felt something for Tootie as well, his promise to not hurt Vicky would only prove harder to keep...

_At the Dimmsdale Mall..._

Tootie made her way through the mall toward the food court, hoping that her friends weren't too high to remember that they were meeting there. _"I wonder who this other girl is that Timmy likes, can't be Veronica or Trixie... Argh... Then who could it be?! If only I paid more attention!" _Tootie continued walking and noticed a young blonde woman sitting at a bench, she appeared to be looking at the palm of her right hand, or something in it. "Um... Hey." _"Why am I talking to this stranger? She seems... familiar somehow, but... I can't place it, I'm sure we've never met..."_

The girl jumped and looked around before her eyes settled on Tootie. "Oh... Hey?"

"Are... you alright?"

"Yeah." the girl put the item she held in her vest's breast pocket. "Just remembering an old friend."

"Oh... did he die?"

"No, but I don't expect to see him again, where he went... most people don't come back."

"Oh... sorry to hear that."

"Thank you. I'll get over it eventually, my tears dried up years ago."

"That's a sad thing to say..."

The girl walked toward Tootie, then past her. "Sad but true."

Tootie watched the girl leave, then continued into the mall. "That was kinda weird... I'm sure I know her but..."

"Hey girl! You made it!"

"And you two are already high as kites..."

"The early bird catches the... something..."

"Hey, where's Timmy? I figured he'd be with you..."

"Ugh... I already told you, he's sick, he probably won't even be in Monday... or Tuesday for that matter..."

"Aw... that's too bad, hey! Why don't we go see him?"

"Because, as I told you earlier, he doesn't want us to get sick."

"Man, he's such a great guy..."

"Yeah, always looking out for us... right Tootie?"

"Yeah..." Tootie stared off with a dreamy eyed expression.

"So... what are we gonna do today?"

"Hm? Whaddya mean?"

"I mean... Timmy is like... our unofficial group leader, without him... what should we do?"

"I'm sure we can find something..." Tootie thought for several seconds. "AJ, as the smartest person here, I elect you as group leader."

"Nah girl, I'm good with that... Also, the elephants aren't going to feed themselves, and I have to keep the face moths from eating my kidneys..."

"Me and AJ are too out of it, I say you should be the temporary group leader until Timmy is well enough to return to active duty."

"...Alright, fine. How about... we go see a movie?"

"Lead the way captain!"

Tootie stood up from the table and made her way to the theater, followed by the shambling zombies her friends had become. "I never asked for this..."

_Timmy's house..._

"Still no word from your parents?"

"Nope. They don't usually bother calling, they just show up whenever, you know that."

"Yeah, but I have to get back to my life at some point."

"You could've done your laundry while we were there."

"I have other things to do too. And I can't bring you everywhere... well, I could, but I have to avoid the mall since you said you were sick, and your friends are there."

"Sorry, a lack of foresight on my part..."

"Good thing I'm in a forgiving mood."

"Any other plans today?"

"Nah, I'm pretty content delivering you a beatdown in this game."

"I'm glad, spending time with you like this is nice, not as nice as making out..." Vicky froze and looked over at Timmy, who saw the opportunity and defeated Vicky's character in the fighting game they were playing. "But nice."

"That. Was an underhanded and dirty trick."

"Maybe... what are you gonna do tomorrow?"

"Send you to school, then go home and do my laundry."

"What if my parents aren't back?"

"Then I'll be here when you get back."

"Thanks Vicky."

"Hm. Oh! I just remembered, Veronica called, she wanted me to ask you if you would be interested in being her friend."

"As in, the same Veronica who has a crush on me?"

"Yeah, that one."

"I... guess so... Long as she understands that her and I aren't happening, I made it pretty clear at the mall."

"When you said you were on a date with Tootie."

"Yeah... Again, a lack of foresight on my part, I really need to think my plans through."

"Well, I hope you figure out a way to end things with Tootie... or else."

"We aren't even together! She just assumes, or forces herself at me..."

"But that's not the whole story anymore, you told me that some part of you likes her, you have to figure yourself out."

"I know..."

_Back at the Dimmsdale Mall..._

"Dude! That was the best movie I've ever seen! I can't believe we waited so long to see it!"

"Right?! Ten out of ten, easily!"

Tootie watched her two compatriots high-five over the movie they had seen, some revenge movie, she hadn't been able to focus, her thoughts kept returning to Timmy and the building relationship between them, and this 'other' girl, whoever she was. "I have to figure out who she is... and how to get Timmy out of her grasp..."

"What'd you say captain?"

"Nothing, just thinking out loud. Where should we go next?"

"I suggest the food court."

"We were just there not even two hours ago!"

"But we're hungry!"

"Fine, then you guys can buy, and that includes for me."

"That's fine, AJ has like... a lot of money."

"Oh yeah, I do! C'mon, let's go!"

This was precisely why Tootie never joined them when they went to smoke, while she had heard that it affects everyone differently, she didn't want to risk it making her act like these two, or worse. There was also the fact that Vicky had once told her that if she ever found out she was doing drugs, she would _kill_ her, and by the tone with which she said it, Tootie was pretty sure it wasn't an idle threat. "Hey, you two haven't seen Timmy with any other girls, have you?"

"Huh? Why the sudden interest? I thought you were over him?"

"I never said that. I agreed to calm down my affections, I never said I didn't still like him."

"Oh... well, there's you."

"Yeah, besides me, genius."

"Ah..." AJ stopped to think, only made harder by whatever drugs were in his system. "There's... Trixie, that girl he has a crush on..."

"_Guess they still think he likes her..."_

"Um... Veronica, Trixie's friend, I saw them talking once, but they don't usually interact with each other, I think Timmy was just trying to get closer to Trixie..."

"Hm... anyone else?"

"Well, the only other girl he's around, probably even more than you, is Vicky, and I wouldn't really call her a girl, more like hellspawn, or creature of the night... no offense."

"Hmph... this isn't getting me anywhere... I can immediately take Vicky out of the equation, and he showed that he likes me right in font of Veronica... so he either knows some girl that none of us know, or he likes Trixie..."

"We already know he likes Trixie. He's tried to ask her out twice in front of us, and we see him pretty much all the time, except when he's with your sister, there is no other girl, it has to be Trixie..."

"Hey guys, wouldn't it be so weird if it was Vicky?"

Both Tootie and AJ looked at Chester, the words he spoke seemed to sober AJ up.

"That's stupid, you're stupid. Timmy and Vicky? What exactly did you smoke, and can I have some?"

"Urgh... yeah, you guys are right, I must be losing it... Let's just go eat, I need something to get the mental image out of my head."

_Timmy's House..._

Vicky had Timmy pinned underneath her on the couch, their faces mere centimeters apart, there was a red tint to her face, but she smiled confidently. "Nice to be back 'on top' for a change..."

"How did we even end up here?"

"You tried that trick again, and it worked, this is my attempt at payback."

Timmy looked over at the game, which had gone back to the title screen. "I don't really see how putting me in this position could count as me losing..." He looped his arms around her waist. "In fact, I'd say this is a big win for me."

"Maybe... I'm letting you win?"

"I'm okay with that. Are you okay with..." he pulled her closer so their bodies were flush against each other. "This?" Vicky giggled. _"__Giggled? Giggled. Whoa."_

"I suppose..." Vicky leaned down and planted her lips on Timmy's, as she did, they didn't notice the front door open.

"Timmy! Vicky! We're home!"

Timmy's arms remained around Vicky's waist. "Uh... Hey... You guys are home early..."

"Yes, your father tried to burn down the Dinkleburgs' house, so I thought it would be best if we left before the weekend got too exciting."

Vicky seemed to be frozen in place, not just because Timmy had yet to release his grip on her. "Mister and Missus Turner... I..."

"Oh look honey! See how well they get along? They were wrestling like friends do at a sleepover or something... I'm glad you and Timmy get along so well! Here's your pay, I have to go treat Timmy's father for first degree burns. Thank you again Vicky!" Timmy's mother tossed a large wad of cash to Vicky and made her way upstairs.

"Oh, remember Timmy, when wrestling a girl, aim for her chest, specifically the 'boob' area, that's a weak spot."

This caused Vicky to blush.

Timmy's mom came marching down the stairs and kicked her husband between the legs. "And now you know the male weak point. C'mon honey!" she grabbed him by his arm and dragged him up the stairs.

Timmy and Vicky both sat in silence for several seconds.

"So... that went... surprisingly well..."

"I knew your parents were dumb but... I mean... wow. No offense."

"Makes you wonder where I get the intelligence from, doesn't it?"

"I once heard talent skips a generation... maybe it's the same with brains?" Vicky got off of Timmy and smoothed out her dress.

"So... I guess I'll see you later?"

"Whenever your parents decide they need me again. Unless they forget to call me, if they do..." Vicky took out her phone and rapidly texted something, a moment later, Timmy's phone buzzed, indicating he had a text message. "That's my number."

"Do you mind if I call you... whenever?"

"What? Like we're dating or something?"

Timmy looked at her questioningly.

Vicky sighed loudly. "Yes! You can call me 'whenever'." Vicky walked over to the door and opened it. "See ya later, Timmy."


	8. Chapter 8

_Monday..._

"C'mon Timmy! Now's your chance! Third time's the charm!"

"This again? AJ, it's not gonna happen. I don't have a chance with Trixie, and I really don't want to risk pissing off that ogre of a bodyguard. If I go over there again, he's unlikely to be as lenient as he was the first time he caught me. Just drop it."

"Nuh-uh, not until you go over there and try again!"

"You two just wanna see me get hurt."

"Wha? No... no way, you're crazy... why would we want that... unless we for some reason thought you getting hurt was funny or something..."

"You do..."

"Oh yeah! So go over there, I need a good laugh."

"Go on Timmy, nothing was ever accomplished by sitting around waiting for something to happen."

"Tootie? You're in on this too?"

"Well... I wouldn't say I'm 'in' on it. I just wanna see how it goes... call it... morbid curiosity."

"Fine. Last time I'm doing this." Timmy stood up from his table and waited until the bodyguard was distracted to go over. He made a bee-line for Trixie, but then noticed Veronica, and remembered his conversation with Vicky.

Veronica sat with the popular kids, she was surprised that Trixie hadn't trash-talked her like she expected, but knew that there was an underlying reason, something Trixie would try to use against her if the need ever arose. _"I really wish I had a way out of this... a way to just disappear or-"_

"Hey, you guys mind if I borrow Veronica?"

"What?" Trixie looked at this pink hat wearing boy, she remembered him from somewhere... but she wasn't sure where... "What do you want with Veronica?"

"I was just wondering if she'd rather come sit with me and my friends than sit with a bunch of elitist pricks."

The popular table was justifiably silent, had this boy really just come up to them and insulted them like that? Who did he think he was?

"I don't know who you are Bucky-"

Of course they'd make fun of his teeth.

"But if you think that Veronica would go with a loser like you, especially after you insulted us like that, then you have another thing-"

"Trixie?"

"What is it Veronica? I'm trying to give an empowered insult speech over here!"

"I'm uh... I'm gonna go ahead and head over there." Veronica stood and gathered her things.

"Veronica?! Sit back down! I... I order you to!"

Timmy watched the spectacle with barely contained laughter. He had never seen Trixie so flustered before, it was immensely satisfying.

"Trixie... when we became friends... I thought it was because we... actually were gonna be friends... but all you wanted was another minion... Someone to pay attention to you and praise you at every turn. These guys may be willing to do that... but I'm not. That isn't friendship, I understand that now. It took me far longer than it should have to understand it, but at least I do now. You're a very sad person Trixie." Veronica went over to Timmy and walked away from the table with him, leaving a very bewildered group of popular kids in their wake.

Timmy looked at Veronica. "You know, for a 'the reason you suck speech', that was pretty good."

"I don't even know where it came from, I guess I've just been holding in how I really felt all these years..."

"How's it feel? Now that it's out?"

"Liberating!"

"Yeah, I thought so." Timmy sat down back at the table, Veronica took a seat next to Chester. "Guys, you all know Veronica."

Veronica looked around at the people staring at her nervously. "Um... hey..."

"Sup!"

"Nice to finally really meet you Veronica!"

"Hey there!"

Veronica was stunned by how they reacted, she expected distrust, or skepticism at the very least, but Timmy's friends welcomed her like she had been a part of the group all along.

"We may be... a little weird compared to them, but I like to think we're good people."

"So Timmy, what happened over there? I though you were going to ask Trixie out?"

"Yeah what happened? You go over there to ask out Trixie, and instead you bring over her cute friend?"

All eyes were on Chester now.

"What?"

"Um dude? You just called Veronica cute. Don't you listen to yourself?"

"Sorry about Chester, Veronica. He's a bit..." Timmy pointed to the side of his head.

Veronica had already begun turning a light shade of red.

Chester's brain seemed to have shut down and was attempting to reboot, with little success.

"Well anyway, in the past few days, I gave it a lot of thought, and I realized that I don't really like Trixie, it was just a stupid crush, she's pretty mean and controlling, I'm sure you guys got plenty of evidence of that just now..." _"__Please no one question this..."_

"Hey man, whatever. Maybe I have a chance with her, after all, she probably would have turned you down again today anyway, she needs a real man, one who doesn't wear pink."

"But one that wears a sweater-vest?"

"Hey, girls love the sweater-vest."

"Alright fine AJ, it's your funeral."

"Just like that? Even though you've had a crush on her for a while now?"

"Yep. By all means." He watched AJ leave and try his luck.

"So... Timmy." Tootie was walking her index and middle fingers up his arm. "Who is this 'other girl'?"

"Tootie, are we really gonna do this now? In school?"

"Might as well, the two blondies are distracted." she gestured over to Veronica, who was beet red and looking through her purse, and Chester, who, upon realizing he had made a flirtatious remark toward Veronica, decided it would be best to send his brain away on vacation.

The guilt clawed at his heart again. "Tootie... I don't know what I'm feeling right now, I'd rather not push this..."

"C'mon... you can tell me..." Tootie leaned in and whispered in his ear. "I'm your friend..."

"_Yep, definitely Vicky's sister..." _"You really wanna know?"

"Yes! That's why I've been asking!"

"Meet me in the park after school..."

"Got it! I'll be there!"

"Great... I'm gonna go home first to drop some thing's off, I'll be there around four."

"'Kay! See you there!" Tootie wrapped her arms around him, then released and ran off.

Timmy looked at the two people in front of him. "Hey! You two okay? Lunch is over... so we should probably get back to class..."

The two blondes stood and left the lunchroom, not bothering to respond.

"That was kinda weird... AJ?" Timmy looked around the lunchroom, AJ was missing. "Hey, where'd you go? AJ?" He heard a muffled groan from a nearby trashcan. "AJ?" Timmy walked over and took the lid off the trashcan, revealing a garbage covered AJ. "Y'know-" he helped AJ out of the trash. "I hate to be the person to say 'I told you so' but... I told you so."

"Yeah yeah, that bodyguard of theirs is a psycho..."

"So the part where he threw me across the food court, did you like, ignore that or...?"

"I told you, ladies dig the sweater-vest... I thought I had a chance."

"Clearly."

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, though Veronica and Chester didn't show up to class, this surprised almost everyone, almost. Timmy had a pretty good idea why they weren't there. "Maybe I should start my own match-making service..."

"Turner! Stop daydreaming about your fairies!"

"_How is Crocker still my teacher...?"_

_At the Dimmsdale Mall..._

Heather walked through the mall, she figured it would be a good idea to get a feel for the place she would be working for the foreseeable future.

"Might have to close the shop, I probably won't have time to run it now..."

"Um! Miss? Miss!"

Heather turned to see a security guard riding a Segway racing toward her. She put her foot up and stopped it, causing the rider to fly over the handle and over Heather, then faceplant. "Yeah?"

"Urgh... Miss... you really shouldn't be standing in my path like that..."

"It's your job to avoid people, not the other way around."

"Miss!" the security guard stood up and walked over to Heather. "Who are you to tell me how to do my job?!"

Heather produced the badge from her pocket. "This answer your question?"

The guard's face paled. "Oh... I didn't know Chief Wolfe... my apologies ma'am."

"Just get out of here..."

The guard returned to his scooter and drove off in the opposite direction.

"I hate those things..." Heather continued walking and stopped in front of her shop, then sighed. "This sucks..."

It wasn't supposed to be this way, why should she have to take up the mantle? She was Heather, she wasn't a wizened old timer like Wolfe... And now, he expected her to take his job? And what if the copper smell came back? What if _they_ came back? Was she just supposed to deal with it herself?

It didn't matter. After he left and she went home, she went to sleep, there were no nightmares, and when she woke up, the copper smell was a quickly fading memory.

"And he wants me to guide that kid? Guide him in what? Why does it have to be so cryptic?!" Heather looked around to see several people watching her little outburst. "What?!" the people jumped and returned to their business.

_Timmy's House..._

He was going to meet Tootie, he was, but he lost track of time, at least, that's what he told himself. In reality, he was afraid, he would have to tell Tootie at some point. But how would she react? He was almost positive she'd be pissed. Would she no longer want to be his friend? Normally it wouldn't bother him, a few years ago, he would have been excited for her to lay off on her affections, but now... He valued her friendship, and didn't want to stop being friends...

Cosmo and Wanda poofed out of their fishbowl. "School go okay Timmy?"

"Yeah, I told Tootie and the guys that I had started feeling better late last night, so I felt well enough to come to school. They didn't seem too suspicious, thankfully."

"You sort things out with Tootie?"

"Um... no..."

"Timmy..."

"I know! I just- I don't know what to do... If I tell her..."

"She might never talk to you again?"

"Yeah..."

"Drawing it out isn't going to help..."

"So what? I should just tell her?"

"Do you think prolonging the inevitable is better?"

"...No..." Timmy took out his phone and dialed Tootie's number.

"Timmy?"

"Yeah, hey... I can't make it today, my parents want me to finish my chores that I didn't do yesterday, since I was sick..."

"Really? It's not your fault you got sick..."

"Yeah... sorry I made you go out there for nothing..."

"It's alright... you wanna try meeting tomorrow instead?"

"Sure... hopefully it'll work out better..."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye." Timmy hung up and tossed his phone onto his bed. "There."

"Long as you don't chicken out again."

"I won't... hopefully."

_Vicky's house..._

Vicky had just finished putting away her clean laundry when she received a phone call.

"Hello?"

"Vicky? It's Veronica."

"What's up?"

"I wanted to thank you."

"Okay?"

"Timmy came over today and invited me to come sit with him and his friends- Hey! I'm on the phone!"

"Veronica?"

"It's nothing! Just my dog! Anyway, thanks again! If you see that guy at the mall... Wolfe, tell him thanks too."

"For what?"

"He encouraged me to- Would you stop! Give me like... two minutes Chester!"

A sly grin appeared on Vicky's face. "So... your dog's name is Chester, huh?"

"Wha-? Um, yeah! Chester's my dog! Heh... he needs a lot of attention..."

"Funny... I babysit a kid named Chester now and then... how serendipitous, eh?"

"Yeah... funny coincidences I guess... Stop!"

"Well, you're welcome Veronica, I'll let you get back to it... tell Chester I said hi!" Vicky hung up. "What an interesting development... I don't know about finding that Wolfe guy... Timmy knows him better than me..."

Vicky dialed Timmy's number.

"Um... hey."

"What's wrong? You don't sound like your confident self."

"Ah... just got a lot on my mind, you?"

"Just calling to ask about Veronica."

"Yeah, I talked to her. Made a scene at the popular table too."

"Oh? You fight anyone?"

"No... I'm not big on fighting unless it's absolutely necessary. I just told them off."

"Boring... Did you have anything to do with... Chester and Veronica?"

"Oh... so they...?"

"Veronica just called me, sure sounds like it."

"Not really, I guess I kinda introduced them, but I wasn't aware until today that Chester had a thing for her."

Well, Veronica wanted me to thank Wolfe for encouraging her to... do something, she didn't get a chance to finish, but I figured it would be better to ask you to do it, since you know him better?"

"I'll let him know when I see him... So..."

"So?"

"What are you wearing?"

CLICK

"Nice try Twerp." Vicky pocketed her phone.

_Tuesday..._

Timmy sat in class with Tootie and AJ.

"Where's Chester? I'm used to him being late, but three hours?!"

"He's probably just getting high and losing track of time..."

Timmy watched Tootie and AJ toss ideas back and forth before interjecting. "So Chester and Veronica are a thing."

Both looked at him. "What?!"

"Yup. Vic- I mean... Veronica told me yesterday..."

"Veronica?"

"Yes, Veronica, don't ask her about it though... Also, you didn't hear it from me."

"Huh... Well good for them! It's nice to see young love!"

"AJ? Since when are you a romance fan?"

"I just never told you guys, it's... kind of embarrassing..."

"It's not really something to be ashamed of... Tootie and I both like romance stories, and movies, and shows..."

"Really?"

"Really."

AJ looked at Tootie, who nodded in confirmation. "You two would make a good couple."

Tootie looked at Timmy slyly, while Timmy rolled his eyes. _"I was hoping that revelation would get some of her attention off me..."_

Veronica entered the classroom, a slight blush adorning her cheeks and her hair somewhat disheveled. Chester followed a minute later, his hair was also messy, though he had a goofy grin on his face.

"Hey, look who finally showed up." Timmy gestured to Chester, who sat down with the rest of them. "So how are things?"

"Hm? Ah good! Good! Yeah. Things are good." he glanced over at Veronica.

"Chester?"

"Hm? Yeah, what's up Timmy?"

"We know."

"Know what?" Chester nervously rubbed the back of his head.

"About you and Veronica."

"Y-you do?"

"Yeah, you make it too obvious."

"Oh thank god! I was worried it would be like walking on eggshells for a while!"

Tootie looked closely at Chester. "Are... are you... straight? Like... you haven't smoked anything?"

"Well I- I mean... Yeah..."

Tootie mouthed the word 'Wow' and looked at Timmy.

"You- you're serious? What did she do?"

"Um... she said she didn't like all that stuff."

"That's it?"

"Um... pretty much. I want her to like me, and I want her to be happy... I mean, I'm not ready to just quit cold turkey, but... I dunno, I don't really feel like getting high as much anymore..."

"Whoa. What the fuck..."

Timmy's friends looked at him.

"I mean!" _"What the fuck..." _"That was supposed to be a thought..."

"All kinds of crazy things happening today..."

Timmy's phone buzzed. He took his phone out and looked.

"Turner! No cell phones in class!"

"I sure wish you didn't care..."

"I suddenly don't care! Everyone may use their phones in class!"

The classroom became filled with a cacophony of beeps, buzzing, and random sounds.

Timmy re-focused his attention on his phone.

_Hey._

It was from Vicky. "Hey? That's it?"

He sent her a text of his own. _What's up? _He was glad that everyone was too distracted to show interest in his texting.

"Now class, I know that many of you think I might be... Insane!" Crocker slammed his head into his desk. "But I can assure you that there _are_ magical creatures in this world! And fairies are the highest priority!"

Timmy wondered how exactly Crocker was able to convince the people at this high school that he was an English teacher, he pretty much only taught about magic. It might have been an interesting subject, were it not for the fact that it was taught by a crazy person who's facts were... questionable, to say the least.

His phone buzzed again. _Not much. Just... thinking of you._

"That's different." she was thinking of him? He only recently found out that the evil nature that Vicky always showed was completely fake, she was far more delicate than he realized, and he still wasn't quite used to it.

_Oh yeah? I wish I could see you but... I think we'll have to wait until the weekend..._

He expected to suddenly appear in front of Vicky, or have her suddenly appear, but nothing happened. _"Guess Cosmo and Wanda can't grant text wishes."_

"Timmy... Who ya talking to...?" Tootie had put away her phone and was watching him.

"A friend..."

"A _girl_ friend?"

_Tootie's getting... suspicious, I'll text you later..._

"I don't have a girlfriend Tootie."

"What about me?"

Timmy nervously looked around, no one seemed to notice what they were saying. "I like two girls Tootie, and you're one of them, but neither of you is my 'girlfriend' until I figure my head out, I'm not leading anyone on, that isn't fair. That's why we're meeting in the park." He realized he was giving her false hope in a way, but what could he do? He was dreading the approaching meeting with Tootie.

_Several hours later..._

Timmy sat on a bench in the park, he was able to get up enough courage to get there, but now constantly had the same thought on his mind: Run.

"No. I have to do this."

Timmy was looking at his shoes, but noticed someone sit down next to him, he assumed it was Tootie.

"Hey I-" Timmy started but looked at the person next to him to see Vicky and stopped.

Vicky turned to look at Timmy with mock surprise. "Oh! Timmy, fancy meeting you here!"

"Have you been following me?"

"Ha! No." Vicky pointed to AJ, who had some sort of collar on. "I'm just watching your friend for his parents."

AJ looked over at the bench where Timmy sat. "Timmy?! Get out of here! She's crazy!"

Vicky produced a remote control from her purse and pressed a button on it that had a lightning bolt on it. Timmy heard a buzzing sound from the collar around AJ's neck and AJ began to shake slightly.

"Shock collar?"

"It's great fun! You wanna try?"

"I'll pass."

"Suit yourself." Vicky pressed the button again. "I didn't say to stop!"

AJ returned to searching the grass.

"What is he doing?"

"I have him searching the grass for loose change, valuables, things like that. What are _you_ doing?"

"Er... I'm meeting Tootie here."

"For...?"

"I gotta tell her about... us."

"Huh?!"

"I can't keep doing this to the both of you. I know I want to be with you, I have to tell her... Um... I dunno if you wanna be here for it."

Vicky seemed to contemplate what he said. "AJ! Get over here!"

AJ came running over. "Y-yes Vicky?"

Vicky reached forward toward AJ's neck. AJ flinched in response and squeezed his eyes shut. He waited to feel her hands around his neck, squeezing the life out of him, but all he felt was the shock collar come off.

"Go."

"Huh?" AJ felt his neck and looked himself over, he couldn't find any wounds or traps on him. "But my parents-"

"If you tell your parents I didn't take care of you for the full time like I said I would, you'll beg for the shock collar next time."

"What about when they get home and find you aren't there?"

"Eh... I'm told you're smart, you'll think of a convenient lie... or else." Vicky smiled evilly at him.

"Yeah... sure. Timmy you wanna-"

"Nope. The Twerp stays with me, I have something special planned for him...!"

"I'll... see you in school AJ... assuming I survive..."

AJ looked at Timmy apologetically and ran off.

Timmy glanced over at Vicky and whispered. "I think we'd make a good acting couple..."

Vicky didn't answer. She seemed too preoccupied looking at her fingernails, which had apparently become very interesting.

"Vicky?"

"I'm nervous." Her facade fell away to reveal the nervous and unsure Vicky that Timmy had met a few days ago. "What are we gonna do?"

"Be honest? What else can we do? We'll tell her... and hope for the best."

"In my experience... honesty isn't the best policy."

Timmy moved closer to Vicky and put his hand on her shoulder. "You're scared, I get that. You're worried Tootie will hate you for this... so I'll explain it. I'll take the blame for it."

"But... I can't let you do that. You've liked me for years, but it was my decision to return the feelings. I'm as guilty as you are."

"So you're gonna stay?"

"I am."

An hour passed by.

"When are you meeting her again?"

"I told her to meet me here around four..."

"It's four-thirty."

"Yeah..."

Another hour passed. Timmy was lying on the bench now, supporting his head on in his hand as he leaned on his elbow, eyes closed.

"You sure she's coming?"

Timmy checked his phone. "No texts... I wonder if this is revenge for me not showing up yesterday..."

"You were gonna meet yesterday?"

"Yeah but... I chickened out. I told her my parents wanted me to finish my chores, and that we'd meet today."

"How's that going?"

"Very funny."

Yet another hour passed. Timmy's head now rested on Vicky's lap, causing her to blush slightly as she played with his hair.

"You sure you want Tootie to find us like... this?"

"I really don't give a damn anymore. She probably isn't coming... If she isn't here by..." Timmy checked his phone. "Seven, I say we leave."

"It's weird of her to do this... you don't think she's in trouble, do you?"

"No, I don't. I think she's just doing this to get back at me, her sadistic side has been coming out lately, it's barely noticeable, but it's there..."

"I feel... proud? Yeah, I think I feel proud."

"Yeah, you raised her good."

Seven o' clock came and went.

Vicky looked down at Timmy, he was beginning to fall asleep. "Hey... We should probably get going... C'mon, I'll give you a ride home."

Timmy stood up and stretched. "Alright..." he followed Vicky to her car. "That was nice..."

"Hm?"

"Just... y'know, spending time together. It was nice."

"Yeah... I enjoyed it too."

Vicky dropped Timmy off at his house. "I'll let you know how Tootie is."

"Okay." he noticed Vicky looked just slightly worried. "Vicky... don't worry, I'm sure she's fine..."

"Yeah... text me later, okay?"

"Sure." Timmy watched her drive off and went into his house. "Mom? Dad? I'm back!"

His mother stuck her head out from the kitchen, she appeared to have been eating dinner. "Oh! Timmy! You were gone?"

Timmy pinched the bridge of his nose. "Some things never change..."

_Vicky's House..._

"Tootie? You here?"

"Oh shit!"

Vicky heard a whisper from the living room and a sly smile grew across her face. "Tootie... I heard that..." Vicky spoke with a sing-song voice.

No response.

"Hmph. You might as well just come out." Vicky entered the living room to find Tootie red-faced.

"Uh... Vicky! Why were you at the park with Timmy?"

Vicky smiled at Tootie deviously. "Interesting... What would give you that idea...?"

"Um..." Tootie realized she revealed too much.

Vicky stepped closer to find that Tootie was straddling someone, someone like AJ. "Too easy." Vicky whipped out her phone and snapped a photo. "Yeah, that'll do." she put her phone away. "So... give me a good reason not to pulverize your little... boyfriend."

"Um... I..."

"You got nothing. AJ? Leave."

"I-"

"Now!" Tootie got off of AJ and he quickly ran out the door. "So, how long has this been going on?"

"Um... not long..."

"Hah... if only we didn't grow up together, that lie might've worked, but I know you. Spill."

"You can't tell Timmy..."

"Oh, I'm gonna. You just gave me the perfect ammo to hurt him with, the girl who claims to like him, and who he is beginning to like, is in a relationship with someone else, his best friend no less! This is like... soap opera juicy!"

"Vicky..."

"Sending the text now."

_Hey Twerp, you wanna see something hilarious and disturbing?_

"Vicky!"

"Shh! This'll be great!" her phone buzzed.

_What's up? I could use a laugh._

Vicky began texting again. _You may wanna sit down for this. _Vicky began having second thoughts about sending it, he _did_ like Tootie, would this revelation have farther reaching consequences? _"Fuck it, it'll be a good way to get the attention off yourself." "What if he resents you for it?" "But this is exactly what you need! Now he doesn't need to make the choice! You're helping him, and yourself!"_

Vicky sent the picture.

"Vicky?! Why would you-?!"

"Why would I what? You think it's okay to lead him on like you are? How long has this been going on? Tell me the truth!"

"A... about a week..."

"So before he started returning your feelings?"

"Um... kind of... Why do you even care...?"

"No sense in hiding it now... Timmy and I... hm... we're..." Vicky stuck her index fingers up and moved them together so they were touching. "Catch my drift?"

"I don't... you mean?" Tootie remembered the off-hand comment Chester had made a few days ago. "You and him?"

"Yeah..."

"What is wrong with you? He's six years younger than you!"

"And you're playing the field, him and his best friend, you don't exactly have the moral high ground here!"

"That's different..."

"You're right! I love him, you just wanna break his heart!" as soon as she said it, Vicky slapped her hands over mouth.

"You... love him? But... I love him! I've told him that!"

"Well... I suggest you stop trying now, especially with that photo I took."

"Is that why you sent it? Because you and him...? All this time, I thought you loved to torture him... and now..."

"Yeah, I like him, a lot. I'm not gonna let you hurt him."

"Me?! What about you? All the things you've done to him?"

"He doesn't seem to care. And I'm done with this conversation. AJ! I know you're still outside! Feel free to return to... ugh..." Vicky left the living room and went up the stairs to her room.

The front door opened. 'Is- is she gone?"

"Yeah..."

"Sweet! Where were we?"

"How about... we just watch a movie tonight?"

"Uh... sure, I mean, if that's what you wanna do..."

Vicky fell into her bed and checked her phone. No texts. She decided to text Timmy. _You okay? Sorry if... I was kinda blunt with that reveal..._

A few seconds later, her phone buzzed. _I'm... I don't know. I didn't expect this. But I'm not mad at you...__ I..._

Vicky's phone rang. "Timmy?"

"Thanks for telling me about... them. It was always you, you know that, right?"

"What was?"

"I do like Tootie, but that feeling I get around you... I don't get it around her... when it came down to choosing, I would choose you, everytime... It's funny, I was actually hoping I could hook those two up... but why am I so...?"

"I know, Tootie said she and AJ have been seeing each other for a little over a week. We were so worried about hurting her, and the whole time, she was playing you..."

"..."

"You're mad, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"You gonna be okay?"

"I think so."

"You want me to come over?"

"No... well, yes. But I'm fine, thanks."

"Alright, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Bye."

_Wednesday?_

Vicky awoke to her phone ringing. She looked and saw it was the Turners.

"Hello?"

"Vicky? Did I wake you up? It's nearly noon!"

"Yeah... I'm sleeping in today, how can I help?" she was much too tired to put on her usual facade.

"Oh well, if it isn't too much trouble... could you watch Timmy? He's been... suspended..."

"What? How?"

"Apparently a fight with someone in school. His father and I can't deal with it right now, we were heading out today..."

"Don't you think you should be there for your son?"

"What was that? I was too busy thinking about all the things my husband is going to buy me."

"Yeah... I'll be over in a few..."

"Actually, could you pick him up from school? We're about to leave and don't have time."

"Sure. No problem." she answered sarcastically, but knew they wouldn't notice, they never did.

Several minutes later Vicky stood in the main office of Dimmsdale High, causing the people working there to cower in fear. "I'm here to pick up Timmy Turner, I'm his babysitter."

"O-oh yes, of course! Just... just sign here and pleasedon'tkillme."

"_Yep. Still got it." _"Mind telling me what happened?"

"Uh... I'm not entirely sure myself, Timmy's never done anything like this before..."

"So there was a fight?"

"Um... not so much, no. A fight implies that both parties exchanged blows..."

"Okay...?"

"I- Oh! Timmy! Your babysitter is here! I have to go... turn off the oven! Yep!" the woman Vicky was talking to ran into an office and shut the door.

Vicky spun around to look at Timmy, besides the fact that his knuckles of his right hand were bandaged, he seemed fine. "C'mon Twerp, I may be getting paid to watch you, but I'd prefer to do it from the comfort of a couch."

Timmy followed Vicky out to her car and got in.

"So I guess I should have come over last night after all..."

Timmy didn't respond.

"Hey? You okay?"

Timmy inhaled, then exhaled deeply. "Yeah... just kinda in shock that I did that."

"What exactly did you do?"

"Punched him in the face." he said it plainly, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"AJ?"

"Who else?" Timmy began to retell the days events.

_-Flashback-_

"_So how long have you two been going out?" Timmy and Tootie were in the hallway._

"_A little over a week..."_

"_Were you planning on telling me?"_

"_Yes! Of course I was!"_

"_But you didn't... why?"_

"_I... I don't know... I guess part of me still likes you, and-"_

"_And I told you I like you! I know I said I liked someone else but... You doing this doesn't make it right!"_

"_Don't yell at her!" AJ walked over._

"_I'm not yelling AJ. I'm just trying to understand why Tootie wanted to hurt me."_

"_I didn't want to hurt you!"_

"_Then I must not have a very good understanding of relationships, because it certainly seemed like that was the desired end result."_

"_Like you can talk?! You're seeing her sister! A woman six years older than you, who tortures kids on a daily basis?! What does that say about you?!"_

"_That I'm a forgiving person who is looking for an adult relationship?"_

_AJ's response was to shove Timmy in the shoulder._

"_Yeah..." Timmy rubbed his shoulder. "Don't do that."_

"_What? This?" he shoved his shoulder again._

"_AJ..." Tootie interjected. "C'mon... Timmy's just mad right now... It's my fault anyway..."_

_Timmy rubbed his forehead. "Tootie, I'm sorry that everything... ended up this way, I should've just told you how I felt in the beginning, but I was too afraid to, I thought if you found out... you wouldn't want to be friends anymore. I value our friendship, and I don't want to stop being friends... but we have to be honest with each other-" Timmy was interrupted by AJ shoving him again._

"_Hey man, I'm still here-" He was interrupted by Timmy's fist connecting with his face, causing him to fall flat on his back._

"_I'm trying to have a conversation here..." Timmy returned his attention to Tootie, who had a shocked expression on her face. "Tootie, I'm happy we're friends, but let's be truthful with each other from now on, okay?"_

_Tootie nodded sheepishly._

"_Great! Now..." Timmy walked over to AJ and helped him up, then put his arm on his shoulder. "I have to help this genius to the nurse's office."_

_The small group of students that gathered around the three began to disperse, obviously disappointed that a real fight had been avoided._

_Timmy arrived at the nurse's office and sat him down. "Hey, my friend needs some help over here."_

"_My goodness! What happened?"_

"_Punched him in the face."_

"_Who?"_

"_Me. Then I brought him here. I couldn't leave my friend on the floor."_

_The nurse just looked at him with disbelief._

"_What?"_

_-End of Flashback-_

"Hm. I'm very impressed. And slightly aroused."

"Not my intention, but I'll take it. How are my parents feeling about all this?"

"Um..."

"So they don't care."

"How long are you suspended for?"

"Technically just today and tomorrow. The principal, while mad, was impressed that I brought AJ to the nurse, so she gave me a break."

"Your luck seems unnatural at times..."

"Almost like magic. Ooh..." Timmy waggled his fingers at Vicky.

Vicky took her phone out and called Timmy's parents. "Mrs. Turner? I just picked up Timmy, he's been suspended until Monday..."

Timmy looked at Vicky and whispered. "Hey!"

"Yeah, I'll look after him, he's my favorite little angel!" _"There we go, facade's back on!" _"I will have to charge you a bit more... Oh I couldn't... Well okay, twist my arm! Hm? You'll be back Monday? Alright! You two have fun! Bye-bye!" Vicky tossed her phone back in her purse. "I love my job... We should stop by my place, if I'm gonna be hanging around for a few days, I should get some clothes." 


	9. Chapter 9

They were back at Timmy's house now, Timmy had brought Vicky's things in for her and now laid on the couch with her.

"Vicky... just so you know... or remember... there's no guest room here."

"So I'll be sleeping with you. Is there a problem?"

"Not at all. Just thought I'd remind you." Timmy seemed to stop and think for a few minutes. "So... are we like... official now?"

"Um... I guess so... I just wanted you to be sure of how you felt, I know how I feel."

"You mean?"

"You're gonna make me say it, aren't you?"

"I'm not gonna _make_ you do anything. I'd like to hear it, but I'm not a pushy or demanding person, when you're ready..." Timmy snuggled closer to Vicky on the couch. "You'll say it."

"How did my sister react to you knocking AJ out?"

"She seemed surprised..." Timmy sighed. "They're both probably going to be mad at me for awhile..."

"So? Stay home."

"I can't do that, I'm only suspended until Friday..."

"If only there were some irresponsible adult in your life who could call the school and tell them you won't make it in because you're sick..."

"Come on Vicky, I can't do that... It's irresponsible and..."

She looked at him slyly.

"And I wouldn't really mind a few days off..."

"Then it's settled! I'll call them Friday morning!"

"Admit it, you just wanna spend time with me."

Vicky shrugged her shoulders and looked away. "Maybe... How are you feeling about the whole 'parents' thing?"

She was looking down at him, but he didn't meet her gaze.

"C'mon... don't get all quiet on me..." she tilted his head up with her finger.

He glanced away for several seconds then looked at her. "I never get used to it, y'know? I've come to expect it now, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with..."

"I know. Your parents are supposed to love and take care of you, so when you find yourself in a situation like you do..."

"Or you did..."

"Right. I'm not surprised that it bothers you as much as it does."

"How... how did you get past it?"

"Who ever said I did? I may act like I don't care about what they do, or how they feel about me, just like I act mean to the kids I babysit. It's all an act. When you're weak, people can use you, nobody is going to act tough for me but me..."

Timmy wrapped an arm around her waist. "You don't act tough around me... well, not anymore..."

Vicky blushed at his somewhat sly comment. "I don't really need to... I'm kind of comfortable around you I guess... you're really the only person that I want to know the 'real' me. Tootie knows I'm not really evil, but I still have to appear authoritative and somewhat mean in front of her. With you... I guess I don't really mind if you see me as weak... if that makes any sense."

Timmy looked at Vicky, he seemed to be dumbstruck. "I... I think every day... I love you a little more than I thought was possible."

Vicky blushed a much darker shade of red this time and looked away. "You-! You say the cheesiest things sometimes!"

"Yet those are the ones that make you blush..."

No response.

"Now who's getting all quiet?"

Vicky flipped through channels on the TV until she found the first installment of the 'Revenge' series.

_Earlier that day..._

"Oof... how's your face?"

AJ's nose was bandaged, and both of his eyes were bluish-black. "How do I look?"

Chester rubbed his chin in thought. "Erm... like your sweater-vest."

"So I look pretty good?"

"No." Tootie chimed in.

"Hey!"

"Sorry AJ, she's right." Veronica piped in now.

"Don't you normally have an annoying California-girl accent?"

"Pfft, that was bullshit, it was useful for dealing with Trixie and her gang of snobs, but it's a real pain to keep up."

"You're great now matter what accent you have..."

"Aw... thanks sweetie!" Veronica pulled Chester into a hug and began rubbing her cheek against his.

AJ watched the spectacle before him for several seconds before he spoke. "Can you two get a room or something? We're in school... people are staring..."

Several people in the classroom _were_ staring, as AJ said.

"Let 'em stare, they're just jealous that I've got a pretty girl in my arms."

Apparently Chester and Veronica weren't shy when it came to public displays of affection.

AJ was somewhat concerned over his own situation, he felt bad for helping Tootie cheat on Timmy. Was it cheating? He supposed not, they weren't together, and the two had never gone on any dates... What he had with Tootie... it wasn't anything official, it didn't even mean anything, not really, he was doing what he was doing because she needed someone, that someone just happened to be him. That didn't mean he wasn't mad at Timmy for breaking his nose, he was going to get him back for that. _"And why shouldn't I? I'm not at fault here!"_

Tootie watched Chester and Veronica with no small amount of envy. She wanted what they had, she had wanted it with Timmy, but that seemed pretty unlikely now, and AJ... She didn't know what she had with AJ, it seemed like they could work but...

"So AJ, how's that whole 'you and Tootie' thing going?"

"I..."

"Well..."

Both Tootie and AJ seemed to be at a loss here.

"Come on... we're all friends here... And I assume Timmy had a good reason for rearranging your face."

"Hey! He just caught me off guard! There's no honor in a sucker punch!"

"Especially since you're the sucker here."

"You looking for a fight now? I'll be ready this time!"

Veronica eyed AJ, she seemed to be weighing the idea of reaching across the table and wrapping her hands around his neck, at least, that's what Tootie could tell from the look she gave AJ.

"Chill man, I don't wanna fight, I'm just saying, you went after Tootie, who's had a crush on him for years. One he was giving serious thought to returning, from what I've heard. Suddenly he finds out that his best friend is banging this girl-"

Tootie and AJ both blushed and shouted. "Chester!"

"Alright, not banging, whatever. But Tootie, you shouldn't have tried to get Timmy to like you if you had a thing going on with AJ, and AJ, you shouldn't have gone along with it if you knew that Timmy and her were testing the water, for lack of a better term... Wait, did you know?"

"No, I..." AJ rubbed the back of his head.

"You... you did know?"

"I... had some information to suggest that the two of them might have feelings for each other... I saw them at the mall..." He looked at Tootie. "When the two of you were going around holding hands... I saw you and led Chester away..."

"So you did know? As in, you willingly helped Tootie kind of cheat on Timmy?!"

"When you put it that way, you make it sound like I deserved to get hit!"

"Yeah."

There was silence at the table now.

"You think I deserved this?!" he pointed to his nose.

"Yep. I'd say you reaped what you sowed."

"I'm the wounded party here!"

"The wounded party who is shoving his tongue down the throat of the girl his friend liked."

"I didn't hear her complain."

Tootie looked at AJ, he was becoming more and more douchey lately, especially after she started seeing him, almost like he had what he wanted and felt free to act however he wanted now.

"Don't be a shit. You're supposed to be our friend, but lately..."

"What?"

"Lately you're... drifting away, I can't really explain it..."

"Tootie? Are you listening to this? Once a pothead, always a pothead."

"AJ... he's right..."

AJ looked at Tootie with wide eyes. "What?"

"You're... different lately. How you were with Timmy, how you're acting now..."

"I don't believe this! I did you a favor! I was there for you when he wasn't! He's not gonna love you, and now, neither will I! No one will!" AJ stood up and walked over to where the popular kids sat and joined them, lucky for him the enormous bodyguard was MIA.

Veronica turned to look at Tootie. "Well that was rather harsh... you okay Tootie?"

Tootie stood and left the classroom, the teacher, who was older than the fossils displayed in the classroom was asleep, and didn't notice.

"She's not okay..."

"Should we... go after her?"

"Yeah..."

Chester and Veronica stood and began to leave as well. AJ noticed this and slammed his book down, awakening the petrified human remains that they called a teacher.

"Hm? Where... where are you two going?" the teacher sat up, causing several mice to scurry out of his long beard.

"Um... I just remembered I have to go get... the knife that was used to kill Caesar! Yeah... I figured you could use it to... teach the class about ancient history..."

"Oh! Yes of course! Please do! I remember Julius, we were such good friends... Class? Have I ever told you about him? Let me recount it to you, it's a very interesting story..."

Chester looked to Veronica, she was slowly being drawn in by the mind-numbing story. He grabbed her hand and yanked her out of the classroom. "Hey! Snap out of it!"

Veronica shook her head back and forth a few times. "Ugh... too close. How did you get away?"

"All those years of smoking weed? My mind is comfortably numb, his little stories don't affect me."

"..."

"I know, you don't like me doing that, I'm trying Veronica..."

"Let's just find Tootie..."

Despite their best efforts, they couldn't find Tootie, not at school anyway. It seemed she had left.

"Damnit AJ... I didn't expect this..."

"Yeah... he seemed okay when I met him the other day... Let me try calling Vicky..."

"Vicky? As in _that_ Vicky?"

"I assume you mean the one that used to babysit you, yes that Vicky."

"Why do you have her number?"

"We're friends!" Veronica responded like it was a completely normal fact.

"Oh..."

"But don't tell anyone. She doesn't want people to know she isn't evil."

"No problem, I know she's evil."

"Well, her and Timmy are a thing now, so she obviously can't be all that bad."

"Maybe he just likes girls that are mean?"

"I'm calling her now, try to behave yourself." she winked at him.

_Timmy's house..._

"Alright, that was pretty damn awful." They had just finished watching the first 'revenge' movie, aptly titled 'Revenge: Revengeance'.

"If only we had seen this one first, we would have understood the sequel... and known not to see it."

"The beauty of hindsight... what do you wanna watch next?" Vicky began slowly flipping through the channels.

"Hm... Oh! Go back!"

Vicky flipped back to find a very Indiana Jones-looking character getting into a jeep. "What? Another one? Isn't Harrison Ford getting a little too old to be making these?"

"Who else can play Indy?"

"Good point, but-" Indiana started the jeep and crashed it through a brick wall, causing him to end up in a long tunnel with stalactites and stalagmites interspersed with crumbling ruins. The camera shifted to a first person view in the jeep as it comically bumped and jostled through the cave. "Alright, what is this even called?" Vicky pressed the info button on the remote and a tab came up on the screen to reveal it as 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Insanity'.

"How can we _not_ watch this?"

Vicky's phone began to ring. "Hello? This better be important, I'm..." she looked down at Timmy, who was looking up at her. "Hosting a pie eating contest."

"Um... okay...? Just thought I'd tell you, Tootie just walked out of school."

"Why?"

"AJ... said some pretty mean things... she wasn't crying but... I'm a little worried."

"Alright, I'll give her a call, thanks Veronica."

"What um... what did you mean by a pie eating contest?"

"I'm trying to spend time with my boyfriend, it was the first thing that came to mind, I was hoping you would take my lie and hang up."

"Oh, so you're with Timmy?"

"Great, everyone knows."

"Not everyone, just Timmy's friends... anyway, I wouldn't tell him about this, he's already mad at AJ, and this isn't going to help things..."

"Right, good point. I'm gonna go look for my sister, you two... get back to class or something... unless you leave school too, in which case, don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"What do you mean-"

CLICK

Vicky looked at her phone for several seconds, then over to Timmy. "So your friend AJ's an asshole."

"Um... what?"

"I dunno. Veronica said AJ said... something to Tootie, something that caused her to walk out of school."

"I'm... gonna try to have an open mind about this... but I'm already having a really hard time..."

"You wanna stay here? Or come with me?"

Timmy glanced over to the TV, then back to Vicky. "Erm..."

"Not a tough decision Timmy."

"Not for you..."

Vicky glared at him.

"I'm coming! You really think I'd choose Harrison Ford over you?"

"I'd choose him over you." Vicky said nonchalantly.

"Thanks."

_Vicky's House..._

Of course she was here, where else would she go? The park? The mall? At least when she was at home, no one would make fun of her for crying...

"How could he?" She didn't think her relationship with AJ would pan out, but she didn't expect... what happened. "I suppose I deserve it, karma and all that..." Tootie wiped her eyes.

She heard the front door open. "Oh great... can't everyone just... leave me alone?!"

"Well, that confirms that I was right, you owe me." the muffled voice sounded like Vicky's.

"Alright fine, this is why I hate gambling..." and... Timmy? Why was he here?

"Stay down here, I'll go talk to her."

Tootie heard footsteps on the stairs and ran to her door, locking it. "Go away Vicky! I want to be left alone!"

"Tootie... let me in..."

"No!"

"I can get in if I want..."

"This is your fault! If you hadn't sent that picture..."

The door swung open, revealing Vicky holding a lockpick. "Gettin' a weird sense of Deja vu here..." Vicky walked in and sat next to Tootie. "Then Timmy would have been hurt instead, is that what you wanted?"

"No... but I didn't want to get hurt either!"

"Well you did, shit happens. Where is he now?"

"Who?"

Vicky's look changed from caring to dark and foreboding. "You know who."

"Um... still at school... last I saw, he was sitting with the popular kids..."

"Thank you." Vicky stood and made her way back downstairs.

"Vicky?! What are you gonna do?!"

"I think it's better if I don't tell you." she smiled deviously at her sister.

"Vicky... don't hurt him..."

"Hm... I won't if you will!" she ran downstairs and grabbed Timmy's hand, then pulled him along back to her car.

"Where are we going?"

"To pay your friend a visit!"

"We can't, I'm pretty sure the high school has security or cops or something... Why do you want to go see him anyway? Because of what he said to Tootie?" Timmy thought for several seconds. "You gonna kill him?"

"No... maybe."

"If you do, save me the wishbone."

_Several minutes later, at Dimmsdale High..._

"Vicky!" Timmy grabbed her and yanked her back into the car. "How about a subtle approach?"

"Why? I'm fairly certain I could walk in there, beat him to death, and then talk my way out of it."

"That's not the point, I'm mad at him too, but we can't go around killing people!"

"Ugh! You're no fun!" Vicky huffed and relaxed into her seat.

"School gets out at two-thirty, I'll go talk to him..."

"You'll bring him here."

"I'll bring him here and have a talk with him."

"_I'll_ have a talk with him, the talk will involve duct tape."

"Vicky..."

"Nope."

She was mad, very mad. He was mad too, but he didn't want to kill AJ, maybe just wish his nose unbroken... then break it again.

Two-thirty passed, there was a sense of foreboding in the car now. Vicky was sharpening a ritualistic-looking dagger. Timmy looked at her with worry.

"Oh this? No... I won't use this... I'm just passing the time!"

Timmy looked out the passenger window to see AJ walking out, holding Trixie's hand. "Well would you look at that! He got to her after all."

"Hm. Go get him."

"Right." Timmy got out of the car and made his way toward AJ, normally he wouldn't go along with a plan that might cause someone bodily harm, especially a friend, but right now his anger was clouding his usually sound judgment, and AJ wasn't his friend, not anymore.

"Yo! AJ!"

AJ looked to see Timmy coming toward him and tensed up. "What do you want?"

"Just to talk!" Timmy put up his hands defensively. "I might have lost my head a little this morning..."

"Might have?"

"Okay I lost my head. I just wanted to apologize..."

"I don't think I'm gonna be ready to accept that for a while, why don't you go back to your red head bitch?"

The comment cut a little deeper than Timmy would have expected. "Come on now... I helped you to the nurse's office, that's gotta count for something?"

"Not much. Now go away, I'm sure that whore needs you to chomp her carpet or something."

Again, the comment cut deep, and let out just a hint of anger. _"No... stay calm..." _"I just wanna talk AJ, gimme a break here..."

"Fine, but I don't trust you, I'm sure your bitch is nearby..."

AJ walked by Timmy toward a nearby bench. Timmy bit his index finger to calm his anger. "Come on, my parents can give you a ride home..."

"Alright, lead the way."

Timmy walked over and stopped next to a sporty-looking car.

"Your parents have a sports car?"

"No."

Vicky suddenly appeared behind AJ and put her hands over his eyes. "Guess who?"

"Oh no... you did not just-"

"I did. I think you need to learn some manners, maybe about how to treat women, specifically my girlfriend, who, if I remember correctly, you called a bitch and a whore. Then there's the issue of how you treated her sister, who is my friend..."

Vicky giggled evilly. "We're gonna have some fun... right baldy?"

"Uh... y'know... I didn't really mean what I said about you... I was angry and-"

Vicky opened the trunk and tossed AJ inside, then shut it. "No hard feelings."

AJ's muffled voice emanated from the trunk. "Y-you guys? This is kidnapping! You can't- you can't do this! Timmy c'mon! I didn't mean it! I'm sorry!"

"He sounds pretty sincere... if only he had thought about the repercussions of his actions earlier... ah well, the beauty of hindsight! Get in Twerp."

They began driving away from the school. "You guys can't keep me in here forever! My family will want to know what's up and-"

"Ugh... we should've taped his mouth shut..."

Vicky slapped her forehead. "Oh! I forgot to duct tape his mouth shut! Why didn't you remind me?"

"I forgot too..."

"Now we have to listen to him give a detailed explanation of how this idea won't work..."

"Which is why you can't even ransom me, and even if you do-"

"Oh my god, he hasn't stopped talking yet?"

"Won't he run out of air soon?"

"Nah, it's not really all that enclosed, he'll be fine..."

"You guys really ought to let me out of here-"

"Unfortunately."

They re-arrived back at Vicky's house.

Timmy popped the trunk, AJ tried to escape, but couldn't get away fast enough to keep Vicky from re-applying her shock collar. "Hold still! …There! Now you can run!"

AJ made it only a dozen feet away before receiving a powerful shock from the collar. He quickly ran back to Vicky and Timmy. "You two are sadists! Let me go!"

"You can go whenever you want. It's more of a question of what will give first, you, or the collar."

Timmy watched AJ and remembered a thought he had earlier. _"I wish AJ's nose was better."_

AJ felt he could breathe normally again and pulled off the bandages on his nose and felt it. "H-hey! My nose is better! I can-"

AJ was interrupted by Timmy's fist connecting with AJ's face. "Ow! What the-!" AJ grabbed his nose. "You broke it again!"

"_I wish AJ's nose was better again."_

"I- hey! I can breathe again! It doesn't hurt-" another punch interrupted him. "Ah! Dude?! Stop doing that! It fucking hurts!"

"_One more time. I wish his nose was blah."_

AJ felt his nose and then blocked a punch thrown by Timmy. "Hah! Nice try!"

Vicky took out the collar's remote and shocked AJ, causing his arms to drop from his face and to his sides.

Timmy took the opportunity to punch AJ a final time.

"AH! God-fucking-dammit! Why?!"

"The first one at school was because you kept pushing me and I lost my temper. Those? Those were for Tootie, nobody hurts my friends, not _even_ my friends, and nobody insults Vicky."

Vicky stepped forward now and grabbed him by his sweater-vest. "Now, you're gonna come with me and talk to Tootie, got it?"

"Um... yes I-"

"Good!" Vicky dragged AJ into her house and up the stairs, then into Tootie's room. "Now, apologize to my sister, or _I'll_ break something..." Vicky cracked her knuckles.

Tootie sat on her bed, her eyes were red and puffy, she had been crying again.

"Um... I- Tootie? I'm sorry for what I said, that was very not cool, especially in front of everyone at school. I'm also sorry for leading you on like I did. And for asking out Trixie."

"Great. Get out." Tootie pointed to her door.

"Tootie, I-"

"Get. Out. I'm not gonna forgive you, not after what you said. By the way, you're bleeding on my floor."

"That's because Timmy broke my nose three times!"

"One, that's not possible. Two, good, you deserve it after what you did."

"But-!"

"Here." Vicky tossed the collar's remote to Tootie. "Have fun!" Vicky left Tootie's room and shut the door, as it closed she heard the distinct buzzing of the collar and chuckled to herself.

She returned downstairs to find Timmy leaning against the arm of the couch. She pointed at him and began to quicken her pace. "You!"

"Me-?" Timmy was thrown back by Vicky's additional weight as she tackled him onto the couch and brought her lips to meet his.

Vicky pulled away and looked at him. "Watching you punch him... It was great!"

"So you like it when I hurt people?"

"I guess so."

"I'm gonna have to find more people to hurt..."

Vicky smirked and returned to greedily kissing Timmy.

_A few hours later..._

Vicky got off Timmy and stretched then looked down at herself. "How did you get my shirt off?"

Timmy looked down at himself. "I could ask you the same."

Vicky still wore her black bra and pants, her shirt was carelessly thrown on the floor several feet away, Timmy's was thrown over the back of the couch.

"Hm." Vicky grabbed her shirt and put it back on. "We should check on Tootie, help her hide the body."

"You don't think...?" Timmy was putting his shirt back on.

"They _have _been up there for a while now..." Vicky ascended the stairs, followed by Timmy.

Vicky crept to the door and listened. "Hey! Come here!" she whispered.

"What?"

"Listen!"

Timmy put his ear to the door and heard nothing at first, then a dull buzzing sound. "Sounds like-"

"The shock collar." Vicky slowly turned the door knob and opened it.

Vicky looked at Tootie's bed and saw her, in much the same position as she found her the night before: straddling AJ, only now, she was occasionally pressing the button on the remote, then dipping down to kiss AJ.

"Well this is... shocking." Timmy spoke up so Tootie and AJ could hear him.

Tootie jumped and slowly looked over at Timmy and Vicky. "Um... hey you two... this is..."

"Well, Timmy and I are leaving! Got to go... host a pie eating contest! Yep!"

Timmy scratched the back of his head. _"I wish I had... 'protection'..." _A box of contraceptive devices, namely condoms, appeared in Timmy's hand. "If it gets to that point... urgh... use these..." Timmy shuddered as he threw the box toward AJ, who caught it.

"Um, thanks man."

"Don't speak. The less I remember this incident, the better." Timmy left and shut the door behind him, then went downstairs and found Vicky outside on the front porch. He closed the door and sat down next to her on the steps. "Wow..."

"Wow indeed."

Timmy and Vicky looked at each other and then burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter as they wrapped their arms around each other.

Timmy wiped a tear from his eye. "I see them in a whole new light now!"

"That was- Oh my God! That was too much! Bet you're glad you chose me over Tootie now..."

"You got that right. BDSM? I'll pass."

"Oh man... I should probably make sure they know about 'protection'..."

"Already took care of it."

"You gave them-"

"Yep."

"Where did you-"

"Internet."

"You bought condoms off the internet?"

"Ye- no. I mean pharmacy." _"I shouldn't use the internet excuse so often, it's becoming my go-to excuse for the unexplainable things I have..."_

"Wait, why did you have a box of-"

"Not important."

"I'll let you off the hook this time... if only because I don't feel like dealing with it right now. C'mon, let's head back to your house, I'm sure those two will be fine."

They arrived at Timmy's house several minutes later, Vicky's phone began ringing.

"Hello..."

"You sound tired, did you find Tootie?"

"Yeah we found her, she went home. We were able to talk to her about what happened, she'll be fine... Also, her and AJ are together again."

"What?"

"Yeah..."

"That's... good?"

"I don't know if I'd call it that, but Timmy and I had a little... chat with AJ. I think he'll wise up a bit now."

"By chat... you mean-"

"A spot of kidnapping, followed by assault, and maybe a bit of torture to round it out."

"Oh..."

"Well, gotta go. Pie eating contest, you understand."

"Yeah... sure. Talk to you later Vicky..."

CLICK

"See, this is why I don't have too many people's numbers, I don't like them calling me, and with a boyfriend, I have another reason to want to be left alone."

"Eh, Veronica's not so bad, and it's nice to have friends-" Timmy was interrupted by his phone ringing.

"Chester?"

"Hey man, I was just talking to Veronica, and she had a great idea!"

"..."

"..."

"Yeah?!"

"Oh sorry, I thought you hung up. She mentioned it might be fun for me and her, and you and Vicky, to go on a double date!"

"Are you high right now?"

"No! I've been straight for two days now!"

"Then I suggest you go get high, that idea is ridiculous."

"C'mon man! Me and Veronica are okay with you dating Vicky, who cares what anyone else thinks?"

"Vicky, for one. She isn't really comfortable in public when it comes to... 'us'."

Vicky stared at Timmy with a questioning look, Timmy waved her away.

"Why? Is she embarrassed of you?"

"No, nothing like that, she just-" Vicky snatched the phone away.

"Who's this?"

"Um... Chester."

"Veronica's dog?"

"Wha? Nevermind, would you wanna go on a double date with me and Veronica?"

"That's an... odd request... Aren't you supposed to be terrified of me?"

"Er... I was kinda hoping that if I stayed on your good side I wouldn't end up like AJ... he hasn't made it home yet, so I assumed..."

"Hmph. He's fine, probably gonna be sore in the morning, but fine."

"Oh... okay. You wanna do this date thing?"

"No."

"Come on... it won't kill either of you!"

"It might..."

"So you're scared?"

"Huh?"

"That must be it, you're scared."

"I'm not scared, there are obvious problems with a twenty year old going out with a fourteen year old."

"Then lie about your age."

"I don't think that'll work..."

"Just agree to it! Please?"

"You stand to gain something from this if you succeed, don't you?"

"No... I- no."

"Yeah, thought so." Vicky put her hand over the speaker. "Timmy? I need some help here, is there anyway to make me look... younger?"

"Why? You're perfect now."

Vicky blushed at this. "While I'm inclined to agree with you, I need something that'll sell it, y'know?"

"Umm... let me go check for anything my mom might have."

"What? Like anti-aging cream?" Vicky began talking to Chester again. "So how are you two doing? Yeah, I did just change he subject..."

Timmy ran upstairs to his room, he knew he would regret this somehow, everytime he made a wish that involved changing someone's age, he eventually received a karmic backfire. "Cosmo? Wanda?"

The two fairies appeared from their fishbowls and stretched. "Phew, been a while since the last time we were fairies. What's up?"

"Timmy! Have you met Jimmy?!" Cosmo held the orange cat he had showed Timmy over the weekend.

"Yeah, the one that viciously eviscerated you." Jimmy immediately began shredding Cosmo again. "Anyway... I need... I don't actually know. Vicky wants a convincing way to appear younger."

"But she looks fine. I don't see..."

"Me neither, I told her the same thing you just said. But Chester wants to go on a double date, and Vicky is nervous about the fact that she has six years on me..."

"Hm... you could wish her younger?"

"You and I both know that won't end well..."

"You could wish yourself older..."

"And risk losing you two? No way."

"Maybe... wish for some kind of magic... something...?"

"Screw it, I'll suffer the consequences later. I wish Vicky was... sixteen... again?"

Wanda hesitantly raised her wand and there was a poofing sound.

"Did it work?"

"Better go see sport. I'll be here." Wanda returned Cosmo and herself back into the fishbowl, leaving Jimmy in the room.

Timmy cautiously watched the cat. "You aren't gonna scratch me, are you?"

"Mrow?"

"Good enough for me!" Timmy left his room and went downstairs.

"Fine! We'll be there! But both of you owe me!"

"Sweet! Thanks Vicky! How's tomorrow work?"

"Friday."

"Alright, Friday! Veronica will pick you guys up around seven!"

"Veronica drives? Isn't she like... fifteen?"

"Uh... yeah her dad payed off some people... she has her license despite not being old enough to have one... Hey... did your voice get higher?"

"No... I don't... think so, must be your imagination."

"Hm... weird. Alright, I'll see you two Friday."

"Whatever." Vicky hung up her phone and cleared her throat. "Hm? I... I _do_ sound different... Timmy?"

"Yeah?" Timmy stood at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey, do I sound-" she walked over to him and stopped talking, she realized they were the same height. "Wait a second! You only came up to my chin a few days ago... What the hell is going on here?!"

"Er... I may have an explanation..." he was, oddly enough, prepared for once and produced one of the bottles of pink lemonade that Vicky drank from. "Apparently, the company who makes these, 'Jungbrunnen', gets water from special springs all over the world to make the drinks..."

"Yeah..."

"Well... I happen to have looked it up once a few months back."

"Yeah?"

"Jungbrunnen translates to... um..."

"_Yeah?!_"

"Fountain... of... Youth. Heh..."

"What?"

"Yeah... apparently the combination of all those different spring waters had some sort of alchemical effect... causing..." Timmy took out his phone and made the screen look like a mirror. "Well, see for yourself..."

Vicky took the mirror/phone and looked at herself. Her hair remained the same length, but her skin was just slightly paler, and her clothes just slightly baggier. "Huh. I look like... me again."

"Well, you always looked like you..."

"I mean me, when you were ten me. What do you think?"

"Well- I mean- Great! But... you always did... you just look younger... That's not a bad thing- Uh... You look..."

"Yeah?"

"I don't want to get hit..."

"C'mon..." Vicky pressed herself against him and pushed him against the wall. "I won't hit you... I may do _other_ things... but I won't hit you..." Vicky was blushing from her own words, but it wasn't necessarily a bluff.

"You look cute."

Silence.

"I mean! You looked cute before, but... I... crap, can I get a do-over?"

"Nah, I think you've said enough." Vicky began to thread her fingers into his hair and pulled him into a kiss.

Timmy melted into the kiss for several minutes before pulling away. "So you're not gonna question the sudden de-aging? Or how I just happened to have an answer for it?"

"I know not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Far as I can see, I'm younger again, I get to experience four more years with my Twerp, no complaints here." _"Gonna be hard to explain this to the people in my life, but whatever."_

"So... how about that date?"

"Hmm... sure!"

"Might wanna get some new clothes though, those don't quite fit now..."

Vicky looked down at her baggy clothes. "Right..."


	10. Chapter 10

_Thursday!_

"Timmy?"

It was early, maybe six or seven, Vicky had woken up in Timmy's bed to find him sleeping with his head on her chest, and his arms wrapped around her.

"Hey! Time to get up!"

"I _know _that's a lie... it feels like it's too early to get up..." Timmy tightened his grip on her waist.

"C'mon, we've got a big day ahead of us!"

"The day can wait. I wanna stay here and cuddle with my girlfriend..."

Vicky wriggled out of his grasp and leaped out of the bed, landing on her feet with cat-like grace. She still wore her baggy clothes, which hung on her loosely, (or, if you asked Timmy, cutely). "Too bad."

Timmy cracked an eye open and groaned. "Since when do you have so much energy?"

"I dunno! I just feel... more alive than I have in a while!"

"_Well... perky and energetic Vicky isn't necessarily a bad thing." _"Must be because of you suddenly becoming younger."

"What? Are you saying in four years I'll become lethargic and boring?"

"No, I'm just used to you being... well, lazy. No offense. The last time you were sixteen, I remember that you mostly just lounged around the house, making me do things for you."

"Hm." Vicky had her arms stretched over her head, letting Timmy get a good look at her figure, despite the ill-fitting clothes. "You're staring..."

"That a problem?"

Vicky jumped back onto the bed and onto Timmy. "No... I know I look good, glad you know it too." She leaned down so her forehead was on his, her hair fell around their faces to from a curtain, she hadn't yet put it in a ponytail. "Whatcha wanna do?" Vicky smiled at him knowingly.

"Stay here? Maybe..." Timmy pulled her tighter against himself. "Eh?"

Vicky planted a quick peck on his lips, then got off the bed again. "Nope!"

"_Younger Vicky is more of a tease... still not necessarily a bad thing..."_

"We're going shopping!" Vicky sprinted out of the bedroom and downstairs, then returned a minute later. "I need to shower first, you probably should too... y'know, after mine." Vicky quickly left the room and headed to the bathroom.

"Side effects of making your girlfriend younger: sudden increases in energy, easily excitable, and impromptu happiness."

Vicky returned to his room, now wrapped in a towel. "You got anything I can wear? I need something that actually fits."

Somehow ignoring the fact that his girlfriend was in his room in only a towel, Timmy went to his closet and began fishing through it. "How do you feel about pink?"

"Looks fine on you, less so on me."

Several pink shirts launched out of Timmy's closet as he searched. "Hm... I got... a dark blue in here... a black one... why haven't I worn these?"

"You must just really love to wear pink."

"It would make more sense if you borrowed clothes from Tootie, I don't know if any of mine suit you..." more clothes were thrown from the closet.

"I'm not really big on Tootie's sense of style... or lack thereof."

"Hm... hey! This one _is _a girl's shirt!" Timmy tossed out a black t-shirt, which was quickly snatched up by Vicky. "Mom really needs to pay attention when she buys me clothes..."

"Got anything else?"

"I don't- wait." Timmy tossed a pair of dark blue jeans out of his closet. "Those aren't for girls, but they don't really fit me anymore, too tight in... places."

"You got any women's underwear in there?"

"No..." Timmy stuck his head out and deadpanned at Vicky. "Why?"

"My underwear doesn't fit as well, duh. Getting younger made my boobs smaller!"

"Tragic."

"I know!"

"Well, I don't have any underwear you can use, not for _that_ anyway. You can use my boxers but..."

"I'll take 'em." Vicky grabbed a pair from Timmy's dresser and left him in his room again.

It took a few minutes for Timmy's brain to remind him that Vicky had just been in his room, practically naked, and he was all business. "Damn!"

_Several minutes later..._

Vicky entered Timmy's room to find him lounging casually on his bed. "Well?"

Vicky stood before him in his clothes, they seemed to fit okay, one wouldn't be able to tell that she was wearing boy's clothes. "You look good in my clothes."

"Thanks! Some people might say _you_ look good in a dress."

"You being one of them."

"Hey, I'm just saying, you could easily pass as a girl, even now."

"Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?"

"Sure. It means you're a very pretty boy." Vicky giggled at her comment.

"Pretty?"

"Would you prefer I call you a beautiful man?"

"I'd prefer you say 'handsome'."

"Doesn't suit you."

"But 'pretty' does?"

"Yeah-huh. Now go take a shower, I wanna get an early start."

Timmy began gathering a change of clothes. "The mall isn't going anywhere..."

Vicky watched him leave and a mischievous smile grew across her face. "Let's see... what there is to see!" She began methodically searching the room, starting under the bed. "Hmm... nothing!" The closet came next, it too was empty of anything interesting, Vicky put the various clothes that were strewn about back in.

"C'mon... think! There's gotta be something interesting..." she walked over to the computer and opened it. "If I were Timmy, what would I put as my password?"

_Timmy_

Invalid password.

_Password_

Invalid password.

"Meh..."

_Crash Nebula_

Invalid password.

_Crimson Chin "_People think I don't pay attention but-"

Invalid password. One attempt remaining.

"Damn it!" Vicky sat down in front of the computer. "What could it be- Oh, I know!"

_Vicky_

Password Accepted

"Pfft! I should've known!" _"Kinda sweet though..." _"Hm... Firefox... Recycle bin... Not Porn? Ooh!" She clicked the folder to find it empty except for a writer document. "What the?" she double clicked the document.

_Nice try._

"Hmph. Too much of a prude to have any of that on here. That, or it's really well hidden." Vicky closed the laptop and stood up, then strode over to the fishbowl.

"You must be Cosmo and Wanda."

Cosmo, being Cosmo, immediately began floating belly-up.

Wanda began whistling to seem like nothing strange was going on, despite the fact that goldfish don't whistle.

"Huh... weird." Vicky grabbed the fish food and sprinkled some into the fishbowl. "There ya go!" Vicky went back to lounging on the bed.

Wanda breathed a sigh of relief. Cosmo continued floating belly-up.

The door to the bedroom opened to reveal Timmy, wearing his usual outfit. "Hey, you ready to... did you clean my room for me?"

Vicky looked at the room, she had cleaned up all the clothes that had been tossed around, and had also re-organized it to some extent. "Um... I guess so. I just wanted to do it as a sort of thank you, for letting me use your clothes."

"Oh... thanks. And it's no problem, you can use whatever you want of mine."

"I'll try to keep borrowing your clothes to a minimum. Now, let's go!" Vicky sprang off the bed and grabbed Timmy's hand, then led him downstairs and out of the house.

_The Dimmsdale Mall..._

"I'm not wearing that."

"Miss... Heather... part of being the chief of mall security is that you have to wear a security uniform..."

"It's not happening." Heather stood in front of Junders Dimmadome, she wore dark green jeans, an orange t-shirt, and a white polyester vest over the shirt. The security badge rested in the vest's left breast pocket.

"But-"

"Nope." Heather took the revolver she now favored out of the holster on her belt and looked it over. "_Probably won't even get to use this..."_

"Erm... Heather?"

"Look, I have _some_ pride, just because people like to joke that I have no fashion sense doesn't mean I'll wear anything, and I don't wear security guard uniforms." she swung the gun around wildly as she spoke, frightening her new boss.

"I... um... very well. I suppose some exceptions have to be made... Wear what you like, just make sure to always have the badge on you. Ta-ta!" Junders quickly scurried deep into the mall and out of sight.

"...I'm beginning to dislike him."

"Shouldn't you be running a coffee shop or something?"

"_Now where have I heard that voice before?" _Heather spun around, expecting to see Vicky, but only saw the very top of her head. She looked down to see this girl who looked like her customer but couldn't be, Heather was eye-level with Vicky, this girl was about a head shorter. "Have we met?"

"It's me! Vicky! I go to your shop now and then? And Timmy?" the girl pointed to the boy next to her. This was Timmy, he looked the same.

"What happened? You're... shorter... and... younger?"

"Yeah, the last couple days have been kinda crazy."

"Same here... I don't know if I can run the coffee shop anymore, on account of... well..." Heather took the badge out of her pocket and handed it to Vicky.

"Chief of Mall Security Heather?! Since when?!"

Timmy looked as shocked as Vicky did.

"Wolfe is... he left. Something important in his hometown. He didn't say when, or if he'd be back, just that he wanted me to inherit his position..."

"Did... he say anything about me?" the pink hat wearing boy looked at Heather hopefully.

"Not much, just that I should have your back like he did."

"Huh... he was always pretty cryptic..."

"Tell me about it... So what are you two up to?"

"Shopping."

Heather looked back and forth between them, then at their interlocked hands. "So you two...?"

"Are kind of an item now."

"Huh. Good for you... so why is Vicky younger?"

"I apparently inadvertently discovered the fountain of youth."

"Right... so how about the actual reason?"

"That's it. The company that makes her favorite drink uses water from natural springs all over the world, the combination of which seems to have caused some sort of de-aging reaction in Vicky."

"Next you're gonna tell me that fairies exist and grant wishes, or that you had a dream where the ultimate catastrophe wiped out nearly everyone on Earth..."

"C'mon... we're talking about real life here..." Timmy nervously scratched the back of his head.

"Timmy, we gotta go, I have lots of stuff to buy!"

"Go on without me for a sec, I need to talk to Heather about something."

"Don't keep me waiting long..." she kissed him on the cheek and made for a clothing store.

Heather watched Vicky speed off and returned her attention to Timmy. "So how's that going?"

"She's... more fun. I'm not quite used to it, it seems like she got all this energy from getting younger... Is Wolfe...?" he handed the badge back to Heather, which she took.

"He's not dead. At least, I don't think so. But I wouldn't expect to see him again... How much of his 'past life' did he tell you about?"

"Next to nothing, just about how he'd been through some 'tough stuff' and that he was glad it was behind him, it wasn't, was it?"

"No. He went back to finish what he started, and left me here to hold down the fort."

"Are you gonna be okay? What with what happens here?"

"Yeah, haven't you smelled the air?"

Timmy deeply inhaled through his nose, it just smelled like the mall, no coppery smell to make you uneasy. "Why is that the case?"

"Dunno, maybe he brought his problems with him, so they left with him..."

The two sat in silence for several minutes.

"Well... you should probably get back to your girlfriend, I got a mall to keep."

"Alright, I'll see you around."

"Most likely."

The two parted ways, Heather making for the food court, Timmy heading to the store he saw Vicky rush in to.

He wasn't sure what to make of Wolfe's sudden departure, it would've been nice to have a heads up, but Wolfe seemed the type to do things like that. Timmy had looked up to Wolfe for a while, he wasn't necessarily a father figure to him, but he _was_ someone that Timmy would have liked to receive approval from. _"Weird..."_

Vicky came rushing out of the store holding two shopping bags and nearly crashed into Timmy. "Oh! You're here! ...Here!" she handed Timmy the bags.

"You didn't keep any clothes from when you were sixteen?"

"That was four years ago! So no. Not like I expected to suddenly get four years younger!"

"...Fair enough. Where to next?"

"How about... there?" Vicky smiled evilly and pointed at a store.

"You just wanna shop there because the shop is probably named after you and your 'secrets'."

"Still going, you can come, or you can stay." Vicky sauntered off toward the store. "Maybe I can get a discount for using my more 'formal' name, huh?" she called over her shoulder.

For once, Vicky saw Timmy blushing, though it could just be a weird light reflection from all the red carpeting in the store, either way, she was blushing too, she felt somewhat out of place in this store, full of lacy women's underwear, and nightwear, and _lingerie_. "So why am I in here?"

"Oh, to help me pick out some naughty nightwear."

"Oh okay, just checking... WHAT?!"

Several customers looked over at the teen couple.

"Jeez, let everyone know we're here... I just wanna take a look around, I bought something here a few months back and wanted to see if they had it in my current size."

"So why am I here?"

"As my boyfriend, I expect that you help me in delicate matters like this. Also it might be a surprise for you later..." the mischievous grin was back.

Timmy thought about this before speaking. "So _why_ am I here? If it's gonna be a surprise... shouldn't I be... somewhere else?"

"Hm... good point. Wait for me outside the store."

"Alright..." _"First bad thing to note, younger Vicky is bossier Vicky."_

_Several hours later..._

After getting what she wanted from the store, Vicky led Timmy to several more stores around the mall, buying various items of clothing.

"Not to sound all whiny but, can we go now? We've basically purchased your entire wardrobe, which, incidentally, looks like mine in green and black instead of pink and blue, though I prefer to wear shirts that don't show off my midriff."

"Oh? So you occasionally wear frilly and lacy women's clothing?"

"Only for you..."

Vicky thought back to when she had made Timmy wear the maid outfit, she felt somewhat bad at first, but her guilt was quickly replaced by mirth at the mental image. "Sorry... haha!"

"C'mon, let's head back to my place, I wanna act like a couple."

Vicky still wasn't big on PDAs, they held hands and shopped together, but that was as far as it went, for all anyone knew, they could simply be brother and sister that were very close, aside from the mildly flirtatious dialogue, rare as it was. "Fine..." she was pretending to sound disappointed. She enjoyed spending time with Timmy, she just wanted to expend some of this pent-up energy she suddenly had. _"I can think of one way to burn off some energy..." "No! Doing it again! Bad thoughts!"_

_Back at the house..._

Timmy collapsed onto the living room couch. "Ah couch... I missed you- oof!" Vicky jumped at him on the couch and landed on his back.

"The couch can't comfort you... not like I can..."

"The couch doesn't... try to break my back..." Timmy turned over underneath her so he was facing her. "But I guess I can let it slide for the girl I love..." he smiled up at her.

"Heh... I've let quite a few things slide for the Twerp I love..."

Timmy stared up at her wide-eyed.

"What?"

"You- you said... you love me..."

"Yeah...?" Vicky was slowly turning from pink to red.

"I... I'm happy, that's all." he leaned up and brought his lips in contact with hers.

"You're a dork with this romance stuff... I'm embarrassed easily, I'll admit that, but you, you love all this cliché romance stuff, don't you?"

"What can I say? I love a good romance story, just never thought I'd find myself in one..."

"Well, I dunno about 'good', but it's alright. Needs more conflict, maybe a sword fight."

"Not all romance stories need action."

"Let's agree to disagree."

"You ready for this double date thing tomorrow?"

"I guess, got my clothes all sorted out, just need to figure out what to wear, you better wear something nice too. How about breaking from the mold?"

"Meh... I thought you said I make all this pink look good?"

"Never hurts to change it up."

"We'll see."


	11. Chapter 11

_Friday_

The night before had started with the two playing video games, but somehow just devolved into a make-out session, followed by roaming hands and eventual removal of clothing items, though Vicky slowed it down before it got _that _far, likely her attempt at getting back at Timmy for all the times he embarrassed her, or made her flustered in public.

Most males his age likely would have been... annoyed at this, but Timmy took it in stride, he was far too patient to let it get to him. What was it that people said? Longing makes the heart grow fonder? It may have held a slightly different context than this situation, but he knew better than to rush anything in a relationship, reading and watching far too many cliched romances told him that.

Vicky woke up alone in bed to the smell of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. She got out of bed and put her clothes (which were strewn about the room) back on and stretched, then headed for the kitchen.

"Shit!"

Vicky heard Timmy spouting expletives from the kitchen and entered. "Aw... what's the matter?" she was talking to him in that sweet voice again, the one that suggested he was a child.

"Burned myself with some bacon grease..." he wiped his arm off with a towel. "I _hate_ cooking."

"You like food though, right?"

"I do, but I really don't like cooking, you don't have to like something to be good at it." Timmy flipped a pancake through the air and caught it back in the pan. "Even easy stuff like this, I'd rather just make something in the microwave." he tossed the pancake onto a plate.

"I hear ya, most of what I eat is microwaveable meals..."

Timmy sprayed the pan with cooking spray and poured more batter into it. "That being said, I don't really mind cooking for _you_."

"But you hate cooking for yourself?"

"Or anyone else for that matter."

"You're a trip."

"I guess so... Anything else you want?" Timmy flipped another pancake onto the plate.

"You're just trying to look cool now."

"Is it working?"

"Not with that apron, is that the one from your maid uniform?" Vicky grinned at him.

"N-no..." Timmy blushed and returned his gaze to the food he was preparing.

"Heh... can't fool me..." Vicky sat down at the table and began to eat, but was interrupted by her phone, as usual. "If this was a romance story, this is the part where I'd tell the author to stop making people call me and interrupt me while I'm trying to eat, or kiss you, or... do much of anything."

"Too bad it isn't, better answer it, I bet it's Chester."

Vicky sighed and brought her head down into contact with the table. "Fine... Hello?"

"Vicky?" it was Veronica.

"Yeah."

"We're still on for tonight, right?"

"Mm-hm, you and Chester gonna pick us up?"

"Yeah, he wanted me to invite AJ and Tootie, but I told him it wasn't a good idea, not with what him and Timmy have been through. And the whole 'kidnapping' thing..."

"I wanted to get my point across to him, he insulted me and hurt my sister, behavior like that can't go unchecked."

"So you kidnap him and break his nose?"

"I only kidnapped him."

"At any rate... we heard about them getting back together, did you have something to do with that?"

Vicky remembered when she found Tootie and AJ in a rather compromising position. "Nope, I just made him apologize to her, what happened after isn't my concern, though if he even _thinks _about hurting her again, well... I don't wanna say something that could be used to incriminate me later."

"Huh. I kinda see where you're coming from, AJ was being kinda douchey that day, I felt... something when he threatened Chester, like wrapping my hands around his neck..."

"It's normal, I felt that way about Timmy even before we started dating..." Vicky smiled to herself.

"Oh! Get this, AJ had to break the news to Trixie that he was committed to Tootie!"

"And?"

"She didn't take it well, her face was all scrunched up in anger, then she had Hans throw him in the trash."

"Hans?"

"The giant bodyguard? The one the popular kids have around their table? He seems mean, but if you're paying for his protection, he can be pretty sweet, and he always makes sure not to _really_ hurt anyone."

"Please tell me you got pictures?"

"I didn't think to, sorry."

"Man... eh, whatever, so we'll see you...?"

"Around seven, I'm gonna pick up Chester first."

"Great, see you then."

"Bye."

Vicky placed her phone back on the table. "Did you catch that?"

"AJ broke up with Trixie?"

"Yeah, wish I could've seen it."

"Ah well, maybe someone else caught it and put it on YouTube or something." Timmy had sat down and began eating breakfast. "How's the food?"

"You already know."

"Well yeah, but..."

"It's great, you're an awesome cook, happy?"

"Yeah." he stuffed a large hunk of pancake in his mouth.

"This whole 'me being younger' thing is gonna be a pain to explain to people..."

"You could always text the info to everyone."

"No... I would still have to explain it to everyone, a text wouldn't cover it, you know how people are..."

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"That doesn't mean I don't like being sixteen again though!" Vicky looked around like she was trying to appease some invisible gods.

"Just me here."

"Doesn't hurt to cover all my bases..."

"Any idea what you're gonna wear tonight?"

"Well, I was thinking I might- Hey! Nope, you're gonna have to wait and see!"

"_Damn... I don't know what to wear! Do I just wear casual clothes? Should I dress up a little?" _"C'mon..."

"Just wear what you want, we're not going to a fancy restaurant... I hope... So just dress casual."

"If I come out of my room to find you in an elegant dress, I'm gonna be pissed."

"I won't wear an elegant dress... maybe a little black one, if you're lucky..."

_Veronica's House..._

"Why do we always hang out at my house?" Veronica stood in front of a full-length mirror in her walk-in closet, she held a shirt on a hanger in each hand, trying to figure out which would be better to wear.

"I dunno... because your house is nicer than mine?"

"I've never seen your house, it can't be all that bad..."

"Trust me, it is."

"Why? Are you embarrassed that your house is smaller than mine?"

"Well... that's not it entirely... but it is part of it."

"So tell me what it's like."

"Um..."

Veronica threw her shirts aside and sat down next to Chester on her bed. "Come on..."

His girlfriend was rather good at coaxing information out of him, what she couldn't bring out verbally, she could usually coerce him to reveal physically.

"I... live with my dad... in a..."

"...Chester, come on... you can tell me."

"We live in a trailer, in the old trailer park not far from where we went to middle school." Chester blushed and scratched the back of his head, he didn't meet Veronica's gaze.

"That's it?"

"Huh?"

"You're embarrassed about that? What's the big deal? Living in a trailer doesn't make you a bad person... I like you for you, not whatever your financial situation might be."

"Oh... I just thought... since you're rich and have a big fancy house... if you found out about me being poor..."

"You're stupid."

"Huh?"

"Just what I said, you're stupid." she moved over to sit right next to him and pulled him into a hug with her right arm. "I already told you, I'm not like Trixie, I don't care about how much money you have, or how popular you are, I care about you." she leaned in and planted a chaste kiss on his lips.

"You think Timmy and Vicky have something similar to what we do?"

Veronica thought back to some of her and Chester's more 'intimate' moments. "Nah... they're probably too prudish about kissing and all that."

_Timmy's House..._

Timmy once again had Vicky pinned to the couch in the living room and was trailing kisses up her neck, occasionally giving a light nibble at her neck, eliciting a moan of pleasure from Vicky.

"Timmy... Stop!" the words may have said to 'stop', but her voice indicated otherwise.

"Heh... that sounded convincing..."

"How do we keep ending up in these situations?"

"Spur of the moment?" Timmy shifted position so Vicky was on top of him. "Oh, and because I love you, there's that." her decrease in stature caused him to realize that he could easily lift her and move her should he want to, also, Vicky told him once that she preferred to be on top. "Better?"

Vicky giggled. "Much. You think we should check on Tootie?"

Timmy slid his hands up Vicky's bare thighs (she was still wearing her black sleeping shorts) and up to her waist, where they came to rest. "I'm good here." he was beginning to wonder if Vicky enjoyed teasing him like this, he could still fluster her with the right actions, but she had begun to catch on and tried to give him a taste of his own medicine, wearing clothes like she was now, being more forward with her affections... of course, he wasn't complaining, who in their right mind would?

"I am too..." she smirked at him. "But she's in a delicate place right now... despite what we walked in on, so I just wanna make sure she's okay."

"Fair enough." Timmy reached over to her back pocket and felt around.

"So why is your hand on my ass?"

Timmy pulled his hand back and revealed he was only grabbing her phone, despite what it may have seemed like at first. "Give her a call."

Vicky took her phone and called Tootie.

"Hello? Vicky?"

"Hey Tootie, just wanted to make sure you were doing okay."

"You know I'm in school now, right?"

Vicky looked at the clock to reveal it was ten-forty-three. "I do now."

"Where's Timmy? He was only suspended until today, is he okay?"

"He's..." Vicky looked down at her boyfriend pinned beneath her. "Indisposed."

"That... that doesn't have any sexual undertones, does it?"

"No... I mean, I _am _straddling him at the moment, but we still have our clothes on."

"More information than I needed, yeah, I'm fine. Me and AJ are... fine... for now. I'm still being wary, just in case."

"Good, I raised you right then."

"You like singing your own praises, don't you?"

"Perhaps..."

Tootie laughed at her sister's comment. "Any idea what happened to Chester and Veronica? They didn't show up today either..."

"Probably skipping school to do... 'things' with each other."

"You mean...?"

"Well, they _are_ together... I wouldn't be surprised if they are doing _that_."

"Aren't they a little young for that?"

"People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones Tootie, after what me and Timmy walked in on between you and AJ?"

"I... have to go, bye!"

Tootie hung up on her, if Vicky had been in school with her sister, she would likely be laughing at her blush.

Vicky tossed her phone behind her, causing it to hit the floor and create another break in it. "She's fine, sounds like Chester and Veronica are skipping school today."

"Ah crap..."

"What?"

"I'm supposed to be in school today! My suspension is over!"

"Oh right... Tootie mentioned that... no worries, I got it covered!" Vicky got off Timmy and pried her phone out of the hole in the floor it was now embedded in. "What kind of excuse should I use? Sudden onset of a terminal illness? Dead parents? Maybe... nuclear apocalypse? Oh! You were attacked by the abominable snowman!"

"How about something mildly believable?"

"You're no fun!" Vicky whined at him.

"Vicky." he looked at her with a bored expression.

"Fine." Vicky dialed the number for the school. "Hello? Yes my name is Vicky. I'm Timmy Turner's babysitter, he won't be able to make it in today... Hm? Oh, I got a late start, I was up all night taking care of him, seems he caught that stomach virus that has been going around. Oh, I know, one can catch it very easily if they aren't careful... Yes, hopefully he'll be well enough to come in Monday... Okay, you have a nice day too. Bye!" Vicky hung up her phone and put it back in her pocket. "Happy?"

"Using the old stomach virus excuse, eh?"

"Usually works." Vicky shrugged her shoulders.

"Whatcha wanna do now?"

"Well... we can't really go anywhere, I don't want us to get carried away and not be here when Chester and Veronica show up... we could stay here and watch movies?"

Timmy fell back into a laying position on the couch. "Sounds boring..." he then smiled at her and motioned for her to come over to the couch. "Good thing I like being boring with you."

Vicky blushed and smiled at his comment. "You keep being sweet like this and you'll give us both Diabetes..." Vicky sat down in front of him on the couch. "I'm glad I don't have that, don't know if I'd be able to deal with it."

"I'd help you..."

"Heh... I can always count on you, right?"

"Of course. Now how about we try finding that Indiana Jones movie again?"

"Sounds good."

_Some time later, at Dimmsdale High..._

Tootie sat at the lunch table that she normally did, though it felt much emptier than before, seeing as how only her and AJ were there.

There had been a lack of Trixie in school lately, Tootie was there when AJ told her things weren't gonna work out and was dating Tootie, and she watched as Trixie had a small meltdown, then ordered the ogre that was her and the popular kids' body guard to 'deal' with AJ, unceremoniously dumping him in the trash.

Tootie was tempted to help AJ, but she couldn't, she was unable to breathe. From laughing too hard. It might not have been nice, but he deserved it after what he did.

"Tootie?"

Things were on the upswing now though, she was happy, Chester was happy, and her sister was happy, true it was because Vicky was dating Tootie's best friend and long time crush, but she was over _that_, life is too short to hold grudges like that, especially against your own sister.

"Tootie."

Obviously Timmy was happy too, she found it kind of odd that Timmy threw AJ a box of condoms, but she supposed he was just looking out for them, though the night didn't progress _that_ far, much to AJ's chagrin, which Tootie rewarded by turning the collar up to eleven and shocking him, he learned his place after that.

"Tootie!"

"Hm? Yeah?"

"Drifting off there?"

"Just thinking about our 'date' tonight... I figured fishnet tights, a whip, six-inch heels... Hell, maybe even I'll get dressed up."

AJ was still getting used to the idea of this 'new' Tootie, he was surprised that she was into all that BDSM stuff, though even more surprised by the fact that he himself liked it. "I really hope Vicky didn't take a picture of us the other night... it might be kinda..."

"Awkward? Don't worry, she didn't, though I think she got a good laugh out of it." Tootie began searching through her purse.

"Good, I'd prefer she not have anymore ammo to use against me-"

BZZTT

A close look at AJ's shirt collar would reveal that he still wore the shock collar under it, Vicky still had the key, and she had 'forgotten' to give it to Tootie, not that it mattered, she probably wouldn't have taken it off even if Vicky had given her the key. Tootie giggled evilly. "That is just too much fun!"

"C'mon babe... can't you wait until we're home before-"

BZZTT

"Nope. Besides, you know you love it!"

_Back at Timmy's house, six o'clock-ish..._

"Alright, I'll admit, it was much better than I expected." they had been able to find, and just finished watching, the movie Timmy had mentioned earlier. "I expected it to be crap because the series has been kinda tired lately, but I guess I was wrong."

"Yeah, it's too bad Harrison Ford is getting too old to keep playing Indy, I don't think there's anyone that could replace him, I wish he was young again, like when the older movies first came out." Timmy thought for a second about what he said. _"Oh shit."_ There was a barely audible poofing sound.

"Did you hear that?" Vicky looked around the living room.

"Uh... no? What- what did it sound like?"

"Sounded like... eh, nevermind, just my imagination or something..."

"_Really gotta stop throwing the word 'wish' around, not that making Harrison Ford younger is necessarily a bad thing..."_

Vicky stood up from the couch and stretched. "We should probably get ready for this whole double date thing..."

"You don't sound very excited."

"Like I said, I'm not a huge fan of PDAs, why go out and do something like this when I can show you how much I love you here, in private?"

"You could've, y'know, canceled?"

"Eh... part of me wants to try this out, even while the rest of me tells me not to."

"Well, if it's any consolation, I'll do my best to not make you uncomfortable tonight. You take the lead, if you wanna be romantic, we will. If you'd prefer we act like just friends, that's fine too."

"I... wow." Vicky sat back down on the couch.

"What?"

"You're just... you make it seem so easy, I've always been so slow to trust people, friends, boyfriends... but with you... You never push me into anything, you let me decide what is and isn't okay... I- I don't deserve someone as sweet as you..." a tear fell from Vicky's face, followed by another, then another.

"_Ah crap... _this_,_ _I wasn't prepared for..." _Timmy knew he wasn't particularly good at comforting people, all the times this came up in movies or books didn't help him, it was like he had a mental block when it came to being empathetic. "Um... Vicky... Don't- don't cry... c'mon, you aren't _that_ bad, just- Ugh... I suck at this..." he settled for wrapping his arms around her and holding her close, she shook with sobs in his grasp. "You need to stop beating yourself up, I don't care about what happened in the past..." Again he was talking to the vulnerable Vicky, the one that she had hidden all these years and would only show to him. "C'mon... you know I hate to see you cry..." Vicky's likely imbalanced teenage hormones were only exacerbating the situation. Another con to making her younger.

After some time, Vicky's sobs lessened, then stopped altogether and she pulled away, wiping her face as she did.

"Are you okay? Like, really okay?"

"Yeah... thank you... Let's go get ready." Vicky went ahead and climbed the stairs to Timmy's room.

"I hope she is... if only I was better at comforting people..." ironically, he didn't wish for it this time.

"Uh... Timmy?"

"Coming!" he ran up the stairs. "What's up?"

Vicky stood in the doorway to his room, looking at an orange cat sporting an eyepatch. "What is that?"

"A cat..."

"Yeah, no shit." she rolled her still puffy eyes. "Where did it come from?"

"My parents. They got me a cat once, this is him, Jimmy."

"I've never seen him before..."

"Well he's always been here, maybe he was in some other part of the house when you slept in here?"

"Huh... is he friendly?"

"Yeah, of course! Long as you aren't Cosmo..." the comment about Cosmo was muttered.

"What?"

"Ah nothing! Yeah, he wouldn't hurt a... well, he probably won't hurt us." Timmy hesitantly walked over to the orange cat and extended his hand to pat the cat's head. He stopped short, expecting to have it ripped off, when the cat continued staring at him, he rubbed the cat's head, eliciting a quiet purr from it. Timmy breathed an audible sigh of relief. "See?"

Vicky cautiously walked over and mimicked what Timmy had done. The cat seemed friendly enough, despite wearing an eyepatch and having marks on his body that looked very much like tire tracks.

Cosmo watched the spectacle before him and began crying, then swam into his little castle, followed by Wanda, who just rolled her eyes.

"Alright." Vicky stood up. "Be right back." she grabbed a few bags from the mall shopping spree and headed for the bathroom.

Timmy watched her leave. "Cosmo, Wanda!"

Wanda poofed out of the fishbowl. "Just me honey, Cosmo is... having a hard time right now... what do you need?"

"Advice."

"No wishes this time?"

"Nope, I want this date to go alright, but I don't know what to wear..."

"Are you going someplace fancy?"

"Well no, but-"

"Just dress casual. No need to make a mountain out of a molehill, and remember to pay for her food. As long as she has a nice time, you should be fine. Now stop overthinking this and get ready!"

"Alright, thanks Wanda."

"Any time Timmy, I'm really happy you found someone, even if that someone is Vicky, the person who used to torture you on a nearly daily basis."

"I guess that's love huh?"

"Yep, it surely is." Wanda returned to the fishbowl.

Timmy moved to his closet and began searching through it. "Maybe... black this time?" he took out the unused black shirt and held it out before him. "Yeah. Black." He searched more and found a pair of black jeans. "Eh... too much black." He swapped the black jeans for his more usual blue ones, then looked in the mirror. "Hm... to hat, or not to hat?" he experimentally took the hat off, then put it back on.

"I say wear it."

Timmy jumped and looked in the direction the voice had come from. Vicky stood in the doorway wearing a red, midriff-baring shirt, black jeans, and black sandals with a fake white flower on each.

Timmy stared at her for several seconds with his mouth hanging open. "So I guess I don't need to ask if I look good. You should wear the hat, I like it."

"O-okay." his brain was apparently doing its best to form words, but rebooting and talking could not be done at the same time, apparently.

"Y'know... you should take a picture, it'll last longer."

"I just- You never really wear makeup..." she had on a light amount of bluish-purple eyeshadow, and red lipstick.

"Well... I mean- I usually don't care to put it on, that's all... Does... does it look okay?"

"_Okay? It looks better than okay..."_ "You look great! Well, better than great, you're..."

"I'm?"

"You know..."

"Yeah, but I still wanna hear it..."

"Beautiful." he was blushing now.

"_There we go! Made him blush!"_ It had become a competition to her in some regards, who could make the other blush more, and she prided herself on the few times she could get him to blush, he was still winning by a long shot, after all. "Glad you like it, turns out I didn't buy a little black dress, so this'll have to do."

"_I'm not complaining." _"I'm gonna go get ready." Timmy left his room and made for the bathroom.

Vicky sat on his bed, and was soon joined by Jimmy. "Uh... hey there..."

"Mrow?"

"Yeah... I don't speak cat."

"Mrow."

"Hm... I wonder if..." Vicky extended her arm and moved the eyepatch on Jimmy's head. "Oh! Yeesh... sorry." she moved the eyepatch back.

"Mow..."

"I can't believe I'm sitting here making conversation with a cat..."

Jimmy released an annoyed huff and jumped off the bed, then left the room.

"Sometimes I wish I could talk to animals..."

Cosmo raised his wand and received a smack from Wanda, who nodded back and forth furiously when he looked at her.

Timmy returned a few minutes later, wearing the black shirt he never wore, the blue jeans he always wore, and the pink hat she requested he wear. 'How do I look?"

"Mismatched as all hell."

His face fell, but he looked at her to see her grinning at him. "Hah-hah, I figured I'd try something new for once, hence the black shirt."

"You look fine, I'm just messing with you."

"I know." Timmy walked over and stood in front of her, he leaned forward to kiss her but his lips connected with her hand.

"Sorry, gonna have to wait, I'd rather not have to reapply my lipstick."

Timmy crossed his arms and pouted, then a look of realization came over him. "How about an Eskimo kiss?"

"Feeling affectionate tonight?"

"I'm doing my best to keep from tackling you and kissing you."

"Then I guess I better oblige you." she pulled him over and rubbed her nose against his.

They stayed like that for several minutes, her forehead against his, before being interrupted by Timmy's phone indicating he had a text.

_Be there in 5_

"It's from Chester, said they'll be here in five minutes."

"We better head downstairs then, huh?"

_Chester's POV..._

"Picked me up kinda early, don't ya think?" Chester wore a black jacket now, but the rest of his outfit was the same as what he normally wore.

Veronica glanced over at Chester. "Figured it'd be better to get everyone early, just in case." she wore white jeans and a pink t-shirt, her hair up in a ponytail, like usual.

"I just hope those two are ready when we get there."

"If not, we'll just wait for them in the house... or we could stay in the car and maybe..." she winked at Chester.

Car. That's what she called the vehicle she showed up in, but that didn't really do it justice, it was a truck. In every sense of the word, Earth Destroyer or something... Leather seats, five miles to the gallon, a flat screen TV for each passenger, and the driver, to give it a dangerous edge, the wood finish was made of some kind of ultra-rare, nearly extinct tree. It was a glorious machine of war, for the upper class.

"I'm all for that!"

They stopped in front of Timmy's house and veronica honked the horn, which sounded more like the foghorn of a large ship.

"No sign of 'em, maybe try again?"

"I _could_, but at the same time... we have some alone time at the moment..."

"Good point!" Chester pulled Veronica out of her seat and onto his lap.

_Timmy's POV..._

"Hear that?"

"Sounded like a frickin' aircraft carrier honked in your front yard!"

"Must be them." Timmy stood up from the couch and looked out the living room window to see a large truck parked outside his house. "Yeah, gotta be them."

"Then let's go." Vicky stood up and ushered Timmy over to the door and out into the relatively pleasant night air.

Timmy looked over to the passenger window to see Veronica on Chester's lap, being a couple, evidently. "Wait!" he put his hand out to his right to stop Vicky, and his hand landed on her chest.

"Really? Can't you wait until after dinner?"

Timmy looked at her, then to his hand and pulled it away. "Er... sorry... But look!" he pointed to the passenger window of the car.

Vicky looked to see what Timmy had seen. "Ah... gotcha... C'mon, time for a bit of fun!" Vicky began crouch-walking toward the car, followed by Timmy.

"What're we gonna...?"

"Shh! Turn on the camera app on my phone." she handed her phone to Timmy.

He began fiddling with it and found the aforementioned app, which revealed the last few pictures she had taken, the first was of Tootie and AJ in a compromising position, the one she had sent him. The next was of herself, after she had gotten younger, likely so she could see how she looked now. "Did I ever tell you how pretty you are?"

"What? Did you find the camera?"

He could tell from her shaking voice that she was embarrassed again. "I mean without makeup. Don't get me wrong, you look good with makeup on, but you look so much more... beautiful without it... I can't really explain it."

"Didn't you say you would try _not_ to embarrass me tonight?" she looked back at him with pink cheeks.

"I _am_ trying." he looked back at the phone and checked the last picture it showed. It was of him, sleeping in his bed. Judging from the angle and position, she was in bed with him too when she took it. It reminded him of the conversation he had with Cosmo, when he had been trying to encourage him to take a picture of Vicky, even if she was asleep when he took it. He never did get up the courage to do it, afraid she'd react badly to it, or call him a pervert or something.

Finally he handed the phone back to her, the app loaded up. "Here."

Vicky looked at the screen to see the pictures that were in memory. "Did you... look at these?"

"Didn't have much choice, they popped up when I turned on the camera app."

"Oh... um..." Vicky was rapidly turning redder and redder. "That was..."

"Nevermind that, do your thing." he flashed her a smile that made her heart flutter.

"Right." Vicky slowly and carefully stood up and leaned over to the window, then knocked on it, bringing the phone in front of it as she did. She heard a squeak from inside the car, presumably from Veronica, and took a picture.

Vicky grinned evilly at the photo, showing a clearly surprised and red-faced Chester and Veronica. "Yeah, that'll do."

Veronica hopped out of the truck and glared at Vicky. "What are you doing?!"

"Taking pictures for photography class." she lied.

Chester hopped out now and glared at Timmy and Vicky, both were snickering at the little 'joke'. "Dude?! What the hell?! I'm trying to have a romantic moment with my lady..."

"Which is why I couldn't resist embarrassing you two!" Vicky interrupted.

"So what? You're gonna use it to blackmail us or something?"

"Pfft! No... maybe a week or two ago, but I really just wanted to see you two flustered! I find that taking a picture of people in such a compromising position tends to be more effective than just finding them in it." Vicky deleted the photo, then the one she had of AJ and Tootie. "There, gone. Calm down."

"Good, you two pranksters ready to go?" Veronica deadpanned at Vicky, then looked at her more closely and her eyes widened. "Are- are you _younger_?! And... shorter?!" Veronica realized she was almost the same height as Vicky now.

"Perhaps..." a sly grin adorned Vicky's face.

"How?!"

Chester looked at Vicky and realized it too. "You look like you did back when we were all ten!"

Timmy decided to interject and put this conversation to rest before it got off the ground. "Vicky likes a certain brand of drinks that gets water from 'secret springs' all over the world, the combination of which, in her system, caused a sort of 'fountain of youth' effect, so now she's young again... and before you ask, yes, really." he was getting good at telling this lie, but he still wished he could just tell people he had fairies, remembering all these lies was becoming a real pain.

"So... you're just... younger?"

"Uh-huh."

"You're gonna have to tell me what you drink, for future reference of course." Veronica said.

"Of course."

"So... now is everyone ready to go?"

"As ready as we're gonna get."

"Fantastic. Everyone get into the tank."

Timmy laughed at Veronica's joke. "Where'd you get this thing anyway?"

"My parents. They insisted I have a car that would keep me safe in case I drove through a war zone. The fact that everytime I start it, I cause the planet to die a little more is just a bonus."

"Well, it's nice, despite that."

"Not so nice on gas, I'm lucky to spend less than a hundred dollars everytime I need to fill up..."

"Good thing you're ridiculously wealthy then, huh?"

"There's always that." Veronica looked at Vicky. "You look nice."

"Thanks, you too."

The girls had opted to sit up front, with Chester and Timmy in the back seats.

"So, how are things going with you two?" Chester whispered to Timmy.

"Why are we whispering?"

"So the girls don't hear?"

"Alright... well, things are good, great even. How about you?"

"Same, I think... I think I love her..."

"Really?! Good! Good for you!" Timmy wasn't whispering as quietly anymore.

"Dude! Shh!"

"Oh right, sorry..."

"But you... I can't believe how lucky you are, much as I can't believe that I think you're lucky to go out with Vicky... she's hot! Like, really, _really _hot!"

"Thanks... but hands off, she's mine."

"Hey, it's just art appreciation, no intentions behind it."

Vicky suddenly reclined her seat back, slamming it on Timmy's legs. "Whatcha talkin' about?" she wore a sly grin that indicated she already knew.

"Ow... mind not doing that next time?"

"You'll be fine, least I don't enjoy hurting you like Tootie does."

Her statement carried a double meaning, intentional or not. Partially because Tootie had hurt Timmy by dating AJ, and partially because she was into _that_ kind of thing.

Timmy leaned forward and whispered into Vicky's ear. "Chester thinks he's in love..."

"Oh, is that all?"

"Uh-huh."

"So have you told her?" Vicky looked over to Chester.

"Told her what?" Chester asked nervously.

"In case you haven't put two and two together, Timmy just told me the news."

"Aw, come on!"

"What? No secrets between friends. And Vicky's a _very_ close friend."

"What are you three talking about?" Veronica looked back at Timmy, Chester and Vicky.

"Pie eating contest. Eyes on the road." Vicky interjected.

Veronica returned her gaze to the road.

"You should tell her." Vicky was whispering now as well.

"I... I don't know. What if she...?"

"Boring."

"Huh?"

"You're boring. This soap opera romance crap? Boring. She's obviously crazy about you, so man up and tell her."

"I will... when I'm ready-"

"Tonight. Or I will."

"I thought dating Timmy would make you nicer..."

"I am nicer! I didn't blackmail you, I haven't threatened you with any weapons..."

"But you still wanna tell Veronica I love her."

"How is that mean? Sounds like I'm trying to help you get your relationship to the next level."

"Maybe he doesn't want to?" Timmy interrupted.

"Oh! Good point!" Vicky looked over at Chester. "You afraid to go there?"

"No! Of course not! We already...!" Chester slapped his hands over his mouth.

"Oh dear. Did you hear what I just did Timmy?"

"Indeed. It seems my friends are all growing up, brings a tear to my eye..."

"Maybe this double date thing was a bad idea..." Chester rubbed the back of his head.

"Too late to back out now."

"You two are enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Oh yeah, better than sitting around watching TV like we planned to."

"Hey, you guys decide where we're going to eat?" Veronica called back to them.

"What? You two haven't?" Vicky sat up and looked at Veronica.

"Not yet. I was thinking the Pine Barrens."

"The what now?"

"Oh, it's a place that tried to feed off the success of places like the Outback Steakhouse. They serve all kinds of things there."

"What are the Pine Barrens?"

"Some big wooded area in New Jersey or something, it's apparently haunted."

"Jersey?" Vicky asked with annoyance. "If I catch even a whiff of anything that has to do with the Jersey Shore, I'm gone."

"Don't worry, they don't have anything like that." Veronica laughed. "So is everyone decided?"

"Sure."

"Yup."

"Sounds good."

"Great! It's where I was headed anyway, we should be there in about fifteen minutes, so long as traffic isn't too bad."

Vicky reclined her seat and let it fall onto Timmy's legs again, though lighter this time. "So, you gonna tell her?"

"What's the rush? It's not like you guys have said 'I love you' to each other..."

"Yeah, about that..." Timmy scratched at his nose with his index finger and turned a barely noticeable shade of pink.

"What?" Chester looked between Timmy and Vicky. "You- you have?!"

"Don't act so surprised! I've liked Vicky for a long time, me admitting I love her isn't _that_ much of a stretch... is it?" Timmy looked back and forth between Chester and Vicky.

"I don't think so." Vicky spoke with a somewhat sultry tone and caressed Timmy's cheek.

"Aren't you guys... kinda young to be throwing the 'L' word around?"

"Lesbian?" Veronica interrupted.

Vicky deadpanned at Veronica. "Yes. We're talking about lesbians..."

"Oh... I'll just focus on the road... not really my forte, y'know?"

Apparently Vicky had succeeded in making Veronica uncomfortable, just as well, they didn't have to worry about her hearing something now, mostly for Chester's sake.

"So, what's it gonna be?"

"Fine! I'll tell her!"

"Good, tonight."

"Yeah, tonight. You two are evil..."

Timmy and Vicky looked at each other, then back to Chester. "Yep."

After several more minutes of Veronica driving, and Timmy and Vicky teasing Chester, they arrived at the restaurant.

"So what do they serve here? I didn't even know this place existed." Timmy asked Veronica.

"You know the Outback's menu? Just take that, and take out all the Aussie themed names. I did say they were basically riding on the Outback's coat tails..."

"Then I already know what I'm getting." Timmy spoke up.

"What's that?"

"Cheeseburger and fries."

"That's all you ever get!" Chester shoved his friends shoulder lightly.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but so do you."

"Well, yeah but..."

"And I'm pretty sure that I distracted you just the other day by claiming there was a giant cheeseburger in the mall..."

Veronica looked back at Chester with disbelief, then began giggling, apparently at the scene playing out as she imagined it.

"Fine, fine. Just trying to get you to mix it up..."

"Trust me, I've had enough 'mixing' for the week..."

Chester thought about the past week's events. "Yeah, good point."

Dinner was a thankfully uneventful affair. Timmy had a sneaking suspicion that a waiter bearing the name Heather would come up to their table when they sat down, but it ended up being a girl named... Susie? He couldn't remember, she wasn't familiar though.

Both he and Vicky kept winking at Chester and gesturing toward Veronica, much to his annoyance. His only response was to direct a swift kick toward Timmy. It was his only response because he missed Timmy entirely and kicked Vicky instead, obviously forgetting her long legs.

The table shook slightly and he looked at Timmy, who still wore a smug grin, but shrugged his shoulders at the shaking of the table when Chester grinned at him.

"_That's weird... I know I kicked him..." _Chester thought.

Vicky leaned over to Timmy and whispered something to him, Chester couldn't hear it, but the shrugging of Timmy's shoulders at whatever Vicky had said to him, coupled with Vicky's sudden glare in Chester's direction, told him exactly what he feared. He hadn't kicked _Timmy_, he _had_ delivered a rather hard kick to Vicky, most likely her shin.

Vicky leaned back in her seat, and Timmy looked at Chester with genuine pity. He probably wasn't going to survive the night.

Veronica accidentally spilled her drink when the table shook. "Damn... I'll be right back, better wash it off before it sets." She stood and walked off, leaving Chester at the mercy of a dragon.

"So... which one of you kicked me?" Vicky smiled evilly at the two friends at the table.

"Um! Wasn't me!" Chester immediately yelled out defensively.

"Oh? So it must have been my boyfriend?" Vicky pulled Timmy, still in his seat, close to her.

"I dunno... but it uh... it wasn't me! Nope, no way!" Chester laughed nervously.

Timmy watched the scene unfolding before him with mirth. Annoyance too. Annoyance that his friend would so quickly throw him under the Vicky bus, (though he couldn't really blame him for still fearing Vicky) and mostly mirth because of Chester's reaction, it was quite funny to see him sputtering like he was. _"I think I'll play along..."_

"But Vicky! It wasn't me! I-"

"Oh no. You're not getting out of this one! When we get home..." Vicky smiled at him like a predator might smile at its helpless prey.

God she was a good actor, and she had instantly picked up on his game. He kept up the facade, but smiled inwardly. _"I _am_ pretty lucky."_

Veronica returned, at last, from the bathroom. "Well, the stain is gone, but my pants are wet, you guys ready to head out? I already paid."

"Ah crap... babe... I was supposed to pay for you!"

"Next time Chester. Or... maybe you can repay me at my house?" Veronica winked at her boyfriend.

Chester smirked at her. "Sounds good to me!"

"Shit. So did I..." Timmy whispered to Vicky.

"You're worried about that? Seriously?"

"Well, it's just that, I'm supposed to pay for your dinner... like in movies and stuff?"

"Don't worry about it. Yeah, it would've been sweet, but you know what's better than you paying for my food?"

"What?"

"Someone else paying so you don't have to! You know how much I hate to spend money? Well I don't want you to either. If someone wants to pay for us, I say take advantage of the situation... Even if they're friends."

"Hey! You two coming? Or would you rather stay here and cuddle?"

"We'd better go, sounds like those two are thinkin' with their hormones tonight..."

"Yeah, wouldn't want to keep them away from each other for too long..."

_Some time later, Timmy's House..._

"That was nice, we should do this again!" Veronica exclaimed.

"Sure, anytime!" Vicky looked at Veronica, then to Chester, and smiled evilly.

"_Shit! She knows!" _"Well, we should really be going, right Veronica? Heheh... See you around Timmy!"

"Um... okay... I'll see you two around... I guess. Gimme a call later Vicky!" Veronica drove off.

"Those two are gonna have the blondest kids, and I'm not just talking about the hair color." Vicky started for the door, followed by Timmy.

He noticed she walked with a slight limp. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just fine." she looked back at Timmy with a pained expression on her face. "Kind of..."

"Alright." Timmy offered her his shoulder and opened the door. "Come on."

"Hey, I'm fine!"

"Then you should be 'fine' with me having a look at your leg, right?" Timmy let her down on the couch.

"Whatever..."

Timmy rolled up her pant leg to find her shin very bruised and slightly bloody. "Looks like he got you pretty good... You want me to kick his ass?" Timmy went to the kitchen and returned with some bandages.

"Nah, just an honest mistake on his part, I'll get him back- AH!" she winced as he dabbed some alcohol on the cut.

"Sorry... just don't want it to get infected..."

"You worry too much, nobody gets infections as often as the media would have you believe..."

"Doesn't hurt to be careful." he began wrapping her leg with the bandage.

"Thanks..."

"No problem." he kissed her bandaged leg.

"I'm pretty sure that doesn't work..." Vicky blushed slightly.

Timmy got up and sat next to Vicky on the couch, then pulled her into him and into a kiss. "How about that?"

"Now your talking!" Vicky pulled him into a kiss this time.

* * *

A/N: Alright, this chapter took forever, well, technically it took a few days, but still, that's forever to me. Next chapter for this will be the last one, I wanna focus on my other stories, especially Summer, since I've been neglecting it, now I just have to hope my muse will allow it. Thanks for the reviews, as always, and a special thanks to grifisme and Samuel Sadi for ideas and encouragement when I was feeling down.


	12. Chapter 12

_Saturday..._

_His head broke the surface of the water. "Wha?! Where am I?"_

"_That's a good question." he was pulled up onto a yacht by a blonde girl wearing... a cowgirl outfit?_

"_Heather? What're you doing here?"_

"_Another good question, unfortunately, I can't answer either of them."_

_Timmy looked her over, she wore a cow print bikini top, a white western-style hat, and what looked to be leather chaps. "You look ridiculous."_

"_Yeah, I thought the hat might be overdoing it." she tossed the white hat into the sea, and it quickly sank beneath the waves. "But hey, no more ridiculous than he did." she pointed to a cage hanging from a large metal hook over the side of the boat, the cage contained a rusted suit of knight's armor._

"_So this must be a dream then, right?"_

_A green dragon and a pink dragon flew through the air and intertwined, then quickly separated and flew off toward a blue sun. The occasional mass of seaweed floated to the surface of the water, then up into the sky, before exploding and sending bits of seaweed back into the ocean. An orange tiger sporting an eyepatch crept across the water, hunting a fish just below the surface._

_Heather looked at the outfit she wore. "Dunno." there was obvious sarcasm in her response._

"_Alright, so why am I here? I already made the choice."_

"_You think every dream has to do with your life and the choices you make?" Heather scratched her head with a revolver. "Maybe you're just having a really mind screwy dream. Ever think of that?"_

"_No, not really. Most of my dreams have to either do with something in my life, or are some sort of look into another universe... Wait, how do I know that?"_

"_Well, either way, I'm not here to make you pick a certain color poker chip, or one girl over another." Heather slumped down in a lawn chair. "Oh... now I remember why I had the hat! It was keeping the sun out of my eyes!"_

"_Ahoy there!" Vicky came down from the helm and pulled Timmy into a hug. "How've you been?"_

"_Alright I guess..."_

"_Good." she wore her normal clothes except for the hat bearing a skull and cross bones, that was different. "You ready to hunt that shark?"_

"_Shark?"_

"_Nah, I'm just messing with ya, the only thing in these waters are amphibious tigers and those damn dragons, keep stealing my hats!"_

_As if on cue, a green serpentine dragon swooped down and snatched the hat off Vicky's head, then quickly flew off._

"_See?!" Vicky produced another hat from nowhere and placed it on her head._

"_What the Hell is going on here?!"_

"_Hm? Not every dream has to make sense, y'know?"_

"_Clearly."_

"_Glad to see you're finally getting the picture!" Vicky slapped Timmy on the back._

"Wha?!" Timmy looked around and realized he was in his bed, the slap by dream-Vicky having woken him up.

"Quiet down..."

A pillow connected with Timmy's face, after which, Vicky wrapped the blanket tighter around herself and turned over to face away from him.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm tired, cold, and a little sore."

"_Lets see... cold? Air conditioner is still on. Tired? Who isn't when they first wake up? Sore..." _"Leg still bothering you?"

"Not as much..."

"_Alright... her leg isn't bothering her, so why is she sore? Why am I kinda sore?" _It was always during these first few minutes of waking up that he had trouble remembering things, usually the activities from the day before. He stuck his hand out and it came to rest on Vicky's shoulder. "Hey." he gently pushed her and realized her shoulder was bare. _"Wait..." _He pulled the blanket down slightly to see her back was bare as well, then lifted the blanket to see that he was in a similar state of undress to Vicky, that is, naked.

The previous night's events finally came rushing back, after he bandaged up her leg and kissed it, it started out innocently enough, with them kissing... and hands occasionally roaming... then they moved from the couch to the floor (for reasons he still couldn't quite fathom). Eventually, as things got more... 'heated', Vicky suggested that their little party be moved to Timmy's room, and no one in their right mind would turn down what she was clearly offering. The rest of his memories were blurred by what transpired after he had shut the door to his room. Being two hormonal teenagers, they had certainly done 'it', as most people who preferred not to call sex, sex, referred to it. He remembered tossing his shirt over Cosmo and Wanda's fishbowl for privacy, but now wished he had told them to take the night off, because, while he was able to keep them from _seeing_ what went on, there was little he could do to keep them from _hearing_... things. Gasps, moans... Her breathlessly uttering his name and him, hers.

Timmy brought both of his hands up to his face to cover up the embarrassing red color it now most certainly was. "That's gonna be awkward..."

He felt slender arms wrap around him and pull him back into a lying down position on the bed. "Shut up and cuddle with me..." she pulled him backward into her chest and he was vaguely aware of a dull pain in his back.

"Why- why does my back hurt?"

"I think it's these scratch marks..." she traced them with her fingernails. "You get attacked by something last night?" there was a subtle playfulness in her words.

"Yeah, my girlfriend."

"Oh? You must've shown her a good time..."

"..."

"What? Something wrong?"

"Was it? A good time, I mean."

"Trust me, if it wasn't, I would've told you."

"Even...?"

"Yes. Even _that_."

"Oh... um- Good, you were... you were good too... I- um..."

"Don't sweat it, I've heard pillow talk after your first time is usually awkward, so let's just go back to sleep for awhile..."

Vicky's phone began to ring.

"Nope..." Timmy sighed in exasperation.

Vicky grabbed her phone and answered it.

"Use small words, I'm naked... so is my boyfriend." Maybe that would get them some peace.

"Um... that's way too much information... It's Veronica, I just wanted to tell you that Chester told me he loves me, but... maybe I should call back later..."

"Wait! He did?! No way! I thought he would've chickened out!" Vicky sat up straight, causing the blanket to slip down and give Timmy a more than welcome sight this early in the morning.

"Did you know?"

"Timmy and I were trying to get him to confess all night, that's why I told you to focus on the road when you were driving us to the restaurant."

"Oh... I guess I owe you one then..."

"Nah, just helping young love find its way."

"Better be careful, people are gonna start questioning if you're really as evil as you say you are..."

"I could always be more evil... Oh! That reminds me, I'm gonna kick your boyfriend's ass for kicking my shin."

"He kicked you? When?"

"Last night at dinner."

"I'll deal with him, I'd prefer you not give him any lasting injuries... or death."

"Fine, but I'm holding you to it, he messed up my shin pretty bad..."

"Alright, thanks again, see you around Vicky, and tell Timmy I said hi!"

"Got it, bye Veronica!" Vicky tossed her phone away and looked over at Timmy, who was clearly still _very_ distracted. "Looks like Chester got up the nerve to tell Veronica how he feels. Also she says 'hi'."

"..."

"Timmy?"

"Hm?" his eyes focused on hers. "Sorry, drifted off there for a few. You wanna um... put a shirt on?"

"An odd request..." Vicky looked at him with a hint of disbelief in her eyes.

"I can't really just sit around here all day looking at your..." his eyes dropped down again.

"Sure looks like you can to me..."

"Hm? Wha?"

"Yeah, thought so. I'm gonna go take a shower." Vicky threw the covers off herself and strutted out of Timmy's room without bothering to cover herself, giving him an eyeful of her body that she _knew_ looked good.

Timmy remained speechless for several seconds after she left, and didn't regain power of his thoughts until he heard the water come on for the shower. He giggled to himself slightly as he thought about how lucky he was. "Er... Cosmo? Wanda? You guys still here?"

His fairies poofed into existence. "Actually..." Wanda spoke first. "I thought it might be a good idea to give you two some space after you came in here and started tearing each others clothes off, so Cosmo and I went out."

"Oh. Thanks."

"I figured you wouldn't want us to witness you jumping head-first into manhood."

"Was... was that some kind of euphemism?"

"Maybe..."

"Well... lets refrain from using those, this is already awkward enough..."

"Timmy, it's not like you're the first godchild we've had that has had sex-"

"Shh! Nope! Don't wanna talk about it!"

"Nevermind what I said, looks like you're still a kid in some respects..."

"Anyway! I'm gonna go ahead and just tell you that I already know everything about relationships and sex and pregnancy... blah, blah, blah... So no need to go over it with me."

"Oh! So you used a-"

Timmy sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"You didn't. Despite the entire _box_ that you wished for?"

"Gave them to Tootie and AJ. I thought they might need them more..."

"Despite-"

"Yeah, I know. I didn't expect the night to take such a turn, that's all."

"Fair enough. When there's a blue-eyed, red-haired munchkin running around here, don't blame me, I did what I was expected to..."

"Noted."

"So other than the sex, how did the date go?" Wanda smiled sweetly at Timmy, she was clearly enjoying teasing him.

Timmy glared at her. "Great, we all had a great time, except Vicky, Chester kicked her shin, thinking it was me, because we were trying to get him to confess how he felt to Veronica, but all in all, I think we had a nice time, maybe we'll do it more often... eh, maybe not, especially if it means Vicky getting kicked..."

"I'm sure she's fine, I'll bet you hurt her last night more than Chester did..." Wanda smiled knowingly at her godchild.

"What are you-? Oh! Would you stop?!" _"Since when does Wanda have such a perverted mind? Then again, ten thousand years of existence might do that to you, I suppose..."_

"Alright, you're right, that's enough." Wanda stifled a giggle.

"What are we talking about?" Cosmo finally interrupted.

Timmy and Wanda looked at each other, then at Cosmo.

"I'm not touching that one." Timmy spoke first and began grabbing his clothes and getting dressed.

Wanda poofed herself and her husband back into the fishbowl upon hearing someone opening the door to Timmy's room.

Vicky entered, still steaming slightly from her apparently scalding shower, wrapped in only a white towel. "You talkin' to yourself in here?"

"You know, they say geniuses and crazy people talk to themselves..."

"And I'm certain of which party you fall into. Pro-tip, it's not the genius side."

"Back to calling me insane for being your boyfriend?"

"Who said I stopped?" Vicky tossed away her towel and began searching through her shopping bags for something to wear, though the act of removing her towel left her naked, once again.

Timmy blushed and spun around to face his TV rather than Vicky, causing her to snicker behind him.

"You're a prude. You've already seen everything, why bother being all shy and nervous now?"

"I- it's just how I am." Timmy mulled over his poor excuse, then turned the TV on.

"_This is Chet Ubetcha reporting live from Los Angeles California in regards to the sudden announcement by Harrison Ford that he has just signed on for three new Indiana Jones movies and several other movies that he was not willing to disclose at this time."_

"_So, Mr. Ford, why the sudden about-face?"_

"_Well Chet, I woke up this morning feeling refreshed and invigorated, felt like I was young again! So I called up Stevie and told him that I was interested in doing more movies."_

"_Really? What an odd turn of events, and may I just say, you look great sir!"_

"_Well thank you, I don't know what caused it, but I'm certainly going to enjoy it!_

Timmy watched the news with a hint of worry. _"Whoops... guess I forgot to un-wish that one... too late now..." _He turned off the TV and turned to Vicky, who was now thankfully(?), dressed. "Guess we'll be getting more Indy movies after all."

"Sounds like it." she spun around to look at him. "Whaddya think?" she gestured to the green sundress she wore.

"Isn't that the one you said I wouldn't be seeing too often?" he shot her a sly grin.

"Well maybe I changed my mind." a light dusting of pink was visible on Vicky's cheeks.

"Well, let me just say-" he took long striding steps over to her. "I'm glad you did."

"I knew you would be." she looped her arms around his neck and pushed her forehead into his. "So tell me something."

"Yeah?"

"A little while back, when Wolfe said those things that he said you said about me..."

"_Oh boy..."_

"What exactly did you say?"

"Um..."

"C'mon... I wanna hear you get all poetic and junk..."

"I hate poetry."

"So do I."

"I don't- I mean... it's not like I wrote you a poem or anything... I mean, I always thought your hair was the most beautiful shade of red, and I always wanted to see if it really was as silky as it looked. And you're eyes are so nice, I sometimes just look into them and forget myself and everything else for a while... and... even when you were mean to me... you were still there, even the times when my parents and friends weren't... you always were. And- and I love you for that... for everything..."

Vicky just stared at him, smirking but speechless.

"I... kinda rambled on there, didn't I?"

"Little bit." Vicky put her thumb and index finger together. "Y'know, if you had said that back when I thought you liking me was a trick, I might have believed you..."

Timmy sighed at this. "Yeah... but back then, I was afraid to throw around the 'L' word, in case it was too forward..."

"Probably could have saved us both some trouble." Vicky shrugged.

"Maybe... but having to convince you that this was real? That I really do care about you? I'd do it all again."

Vicky chuckled. "You are so corny..."

_A few minutes earlier, Veronica's House..._

Veronica slumped back on her bed next to Chester. "Those two are so strange..."

"They certainly are an odd pair." Chester slid over next to Veronica. "So is Vicky still mad about me kicking her?"

"Sounds like it, you're lucky I covered for you."

"I'm eternally grateful for you saving me from the red-headed demon's wrath."

"Bet you're ass you are! Who knows what she would've done to you?"

"What are you gonna do to me?"

"Nothing, Pumpkin, I am not without mercy..."

"Good!" he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "I was up for most of the night worrying!"

"Paranoid that big, bad Vicky is gonna burst out of my closet in the middle of the night and kick you in the shin?"

"I wouldn't put it past her." Chester glanced at the door to the walk-in closet nervously.

"I think she's preoccupied right now, relax."

"Yeah... you're probably right." Chester cuddled closer to his girlfriend and went back to sleep.

_Vicky's House..._

"AJ! Come on! We have to do other things besides sex!"

AJ deadpanned. "I would be getting ready... if I wasn't tied to your bed!"

"Oh. Right. Sorry." Tootie went over and untied the ropes holding his wrists and ankles.

"There. Now go get ready! I want a romantic date too!"

"Where is this coming from?"

"Chester called and asked us to go on a triple date with him, Veronica, Timmy, and Vicky. But by the time he did, we were already busy, I guess he called last minute. Now move it!"

Tootie was being oddly more forceful than her normally meek attitude would suggest. _"My fault for being the submissive one in this relationship..."_ he thought as he pulled on his pants.

"Almost ready, lover?"

He did enjoy this new Tootie though.

_Back at Timmy's house..._

Timmy and Vicky now sat on the couch together, after having agreed to a 'Lazy Sunday' as Timmy had put it.

After a breakfast of pancakes, during which Vicky felt the need to ask him why he always seemed to make big, extravagant breakfasts, and he replied that he simply didn't want to get rusty, causing her to ask if he even _had_ cereal, which then brought his attention to the lonely and forgotten cereal box on top of the fridge, which now had the head of a green mouse poking out from the top, he ushered her into the living room and turned on the TV.

Apparently, while he was doing his best to keep Cosmo and Wanda a secret, Cosmo insisted on testing the limits of what he could get away with, unconsciously or not.

"So... what's next?"

Vicky looked at Timmy. "Huh?"

"Like... for us? What's next?"

"I dunno. Marriage? Kids? Maybe a nice house with a white picket fence?"

"I meant... well, I guess that would be nice... but, I meant more short term."

Of course they were joking, deep down they both wanted it someday, but both also knew there was no need to rush into such things.

Timmy put his arm around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I don't know." she finally spoke. "I never liked having to go by any kind of schedule, I prefer to live one day at a time." she turned her head to look at him and leaned up into a gentle kiss.

The front door burst open, not uncharacteristically at the Turner house-hold.

"Vicky! Timmy! We're home early!" Timmy's parents walked in on Timmy and Vicky, like last time.

Except this time they didn't have enough time to pull apart, leaving the two teenagers awkwardly staring mid-kiss at the two adults.

Vicky pulled away first, crossing her arms and looking away, clearly embarrassed at the sudden onset of a PDA.

Timmy cleared his throat and glanced at Vicky, then back to his parents. "Uh... Hey, Mom and Dad. Vicky and I were just... uh..." Timmy looked at Vicky, who still didn't meet his gaze, then sighed. "We're... together... Like, a couple."

Vicky finally decided to speak up. "If you even dare to try and keep us apart, I'll-"

"We know." Timmy's mother spoke like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"I- what?" Vicky looked at Timmy's parents questioningly.

"You two are together, we know."

"How?!" Timmy interrupted.

"Oh come now, we've been leaving you with Vicky for years now, and a mother tends to notice these things."

"But- but I-"

"At first, I wasn't completely sure, but when your father and I came home to find you 'wrestling' on the couch, I was positive."

"Dad?"

"Don't look at me Timmy, I had no idea until your mother told me that day, I really did think you were wrestling."

"So... you're both... okay? With us dating?"

"Okay? We're more than okay! We're happy for you! We thought-"

He was interrupted by an elbow jab by Timmy's mother. "Well, _I _thought anyway... that you were... well, you know..."

"Gay?" Vicky interjected, earning a wide-eyed look from Timmy. "What? That's where he was going with it."

"Son, to be fair, you _do_ have a mostly pink wardrobe."

"That you both insist on continuing to buy for me!"

"But you look so cute in pink!" Timmy's mother and Vicky spoke.

"This is too weird. But you're both really okay with it? Me dating my babysitter?"

"Better someone who cares about you that we trust, rather than someone we don't."

"_That sounds dangerously close to them saying they care about me, in a round-about sort of way."_

"Vicky? I trust Timmy behaved himself?"

"Of course! You know how much of an angel he always is!"

"Great! I was worried that he might give you some trouble after being suspended, I'm glad my concerns were unfounded!" Timmy's mother breezed by them and into the kitchen, followed closely by her husband.

"See? They _do_ care. Maybe not in the way that you want them to, and definitely not in the way that parents should, but they care..."

Timmy fell back onto the couch, pulling Vicky down with him. "You just love to be right, don't you?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Vicky smiled innocently at him. "Oh! I just remembered something!" Vicky wriggled out of his grasp and ran upstairs to his room.

_Meanwhile, at the Dimmsdale Mall..._

"Kid, I really don't want to hear your excuses, there's no skateboarding in the mall, period."

"Aw, c'mon lady, give us a break!"

Heather looked at the group of teenagers with annoyance. "You wanna think _real_ careful about those words?"

The boarder seemed to suddenly remember the beating he had received from the last chief of mall security, and turned to his friends. "Uh... guys, let's... let's head out, I'd rather not have to give this girl a piece of my mind."

"_Right, play it tough in front of your friends." _Heather thought to herself. The group of thoroughly annoying teenagers left, at last. "How boring... I never get to hurt people anymore..."

Her first few days were spent instilling fear and respect into any of the malls frequent ne'er-do-wells, but after that, everyone stayed out of her way, leaving her to endlessly wander the mall, or get free food from the food court until closing time.

"Job's not all about hurting people y'know."

Heather froze at the sound of the voice. _"It can't be, I'm just imagining it, that's all, I've finally lost my mind and am hearing voices..." _she slowly turned around to see Wolfe casually smoking a cigarette and sitting at his usual bench.

"Hey." Wolfe waved to her with a heavily bandaged left arm and a moronic smile on his also bandaged face. From what she could see through the top buttons on his shirt, his torso was also bandaged, and one of his eyes was covered over.

Heather chuckled to herself and walked over to sit next to him. "You look like shit."

"That's about how I feel too." he took a long drag off his cigarette.

"So, is everything... sorted out?"

"I hope so, for both our sakes."

"Good." she playfully shoved his shoulder, causing him to wince, then stood up and stretched. "How about we get some coffee?" she extended her hand for him to take it.

"I'd like that." he grabbed her hand and stood up.

"For the record..." she looked back as he followed her. "I am happy you're back, but..."

"But?"

She turned around and faced him, then grabbed the cigarette from his mouth, snapped it in two, threw it on the floor, and stomped it out. "No smoking in the mall." she grinned and turned away, heading deeper into the mall.

Wolfe looked at her retreating form, dumbstruck, then shook his head and followed after her.

_Back at Timmy's house..._

Vicky came running back down after several minutes. "I saw this!" she held out a camera attached to a strap around her neck.

"My camera?" specifically the one he accidentally wished for when he first told Vicky how he felt. "What about it?"

Vicky lowered the camera. "I thought..." she began to blush. "We could take a picture... together?"

"Really?"

"I mean... if you don't want to..."

"No, it's not that, it's just..."

"Just what?"

"I wanted to take a picture of you, y'know, just something to have, but I chickened out 'cause I thought that you'd think I was a creeper or something..."

"Well, from one creeper to another, I would've been fine with it. That picture in my phone should tell you that."

"Yeah I- ...yeah."

Vicky plopped down on the couch next to Timmy and began fiddling with the camera after removing the strap from her neck. "Just so ya know, I have literally no idea what I'm doing."

"I'm not going anywhere, take your time."

"Where'd you even get this thing?"

"The internet, where I-"

"Where you get all of the things you have, I know. Did it come with an instruction manual?"

"Nope."

"Perfect."

After several more minutes of the two fiddling with what Timmy could only assume must have been a magic camera, they figured out how it worked, they hoped.

Vicky pulled Timmy closer and had her arm wrapped around him. "Whaddya think? Cheese?"

Timmy nodded. "Cheese."

The camera clicked and flashed.

Vicky had taken the opportunity to kiss Timmy's cheek, at the same time he chose to attempt to kiss hers', and both ended up kissing each other. Vicky pulled away, still blushing, and looked at the picture she had taken. "Cheesy."

"That's love, right?"

Vicky rolled her eyes and smiled. "Right."

* * *

A/N: Alright, that's it, everyone gets a happy ending. This time. Now I can focus on my other stories for all of you who want to strangle me for neglecting Summer, tell me if I left any loose ends in this one so I can look for them and then bash my head against a wall upon finding them. As usual, thanks to everyone for the dedication and reviews.


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